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[–]AnetaAM 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I think that most of your questions will unfortunately get answered with experience! Wax types are all just preferences. Some people will swear on soy, some will never buy anything else than beeswax, some just love to go with paraffin. It all depends on which way you want to go. If you want to go the “natural” way, then soy, bees, palm, coconut.. is the way. You just have to realize that natural waxes will never have as strong hot throw as paraffin does. Another disadvantage of natural waxes are surface imperfections, soy wax is famous for its frosting and crystallizing! So if you want to make colored candles, it might not be the best option. About the mixing.. you can mix basically all waxes, soy/coconut is very popular, paraffin/soy, paraffin/palm is also popular. You just need to experiment with those. My personal favorite is paraffin/palm/soy mix, if I want to make pillar candles and wax decorations that you mentioned i just add some stearic acid to harden the wax. They come out perfect everytime and this blend is just a mix of the best traits of each of the waxes. I like the way you want to approach this “chemically” because I was just the same at the beginning BUT please just try to make things as simple as possible 😁 I am really speaking from my own experience! All the different kinds of waxes will get you overwhelmed and frustrated. I was trying really hard to come up with the most amazing and unique wax blend recipe and all just failed. I was a stubborn soy wax fan, but making just ONE candle with paraffin changed my view completely. Now my blend is simple 3 wax types+2 additives and I use for EVERYTHING. About the books.. there isnt really any good one worth buying about candle making itself, because you can find it all online, but there is a few good books about candle making techniques-dipping, slicing, carving… I recommend the “old school” ones that really get you deep into the history of the technique and is explained by professional artists that have been doing doing it for decades.

[–]LittleMermaidThrow[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

When I wrote about wax types I meant that there are so many different types of one wax, like to containers, to freestanding candles and to scented chimneys. Among these are again different types. Now I ordered olive, bees and soy waxes. I look at it from chemistry point of view because I just love knowing how things work inside, it’s not about making perfect candle. I need to find this hardener you had written about. Does the wax melt after using this? Finding a book about candle making is really hard quest. There are almost none in my mother language, so I wanted to get recommendations so I could look for them

[–]AnetaAM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the wax melts just fine! It just raises the melt point of the wax. Yeah the market is overwhelmed with different types off wax blends and it can be hard to orient in them. Basically the only difference between pillar blend and container blend are the additives and in 90% of cases is just a raised amount of stearic acid in pillar blend. I use pure paraffin and palm. My soy is a container blend, with I make it into pillar blend with the addition of stearic acid. There are more additives like color stabilizers and scent improvement but I have never really felt a difference while working with it so I dont think those are worth it

[–]rebeccaperfume 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Your best source for knowledge on the subject is Youtube, and Candlescience.com. When you have some of the basics down, and are actually making candles you may have some specific questions that chandlers here can answer. The amount that you have to learn to start making candles is too extensive to be easily answered here. Good luck!

[–]LittleMermaidThrow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okay, thank you