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It's easy for beginning candle makers to become confused by all the different kinds of candle making wax on the market today. While the following description is by not encyclopedic, it does describe the waxes modern candle makers use most frequently.
Beeswax is a favorite of many candle makers. It is a naturally occurring candle wax that's been used for generations. Bees produce the wax to form the combs in which the honey is stored. as it turns out, this wax makes an excellent candle.
Beeswax has a long burn time and burns even more cleanly than paraffin. It is suitable for making tapers and pillar candles. You can add scent to beeswax, but I prefer not to - it has a very subtle fragrance of its own.
Unfortunately, beeswax is relatively expensive. This has always been. In the past, only the wealthy could afford beeswax. It's more affordable these days, but still more expensive than most other candle waxes.
Paraffin is the most commonly used wax today, both in commercial production and by the home hobbyist. Paraffin is a residual of the process of refining crude oil.
Paraffin works well as a candle wax. When it was first introduced in the 19th century, it was a tremendous improvement over the tallow candles that were in common use at the time. Paraffin wax is affordable and quite versatile - it works in any number of different candles - and it's performance can be enhanced with additives.
Soy candle wax has only been invented in the last decade or so. Soy beans are high in oil, which of course is a liquid. With the addition of hydrogen, soybean oil becomes solid at room temperature and suitable for making candles. However, unless the candle maker uses additives, most soy candle wax is generally too soft to use reliably to make taper candles or pillar candles.
On the positive side, it is a great wax to use for container candles. It holds scent and fragrance well. It is extremely clean burning - significantly more so than paraffin. And many people prefer to paraffin because it has no connection whatsoever to petroleum or the oil industry.
The waxes I've mentioned here are by far the most commonly used candle making waxes out there. many candle makers never use anything except paraffin.
You may hear about other waxes such as palm oil wax or bayberry, but these are seldom used today.
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It's well worth digging a little deeper and visiting the page: Candle Making Wax. You'll discover some interesting waxes I haven't mentioned here, as well as some more details about paraffin and soy wax. I want to recommend an excellent site for you to find out everything you need to know to start making beautiful handcrafted candles: Home Candle Making
I've learned the hard way that you can save a lot of time and frustration if you visit sites like that and get some insider tips and advice before you start experimenting on your own. Be sure to sign up for the free candle making mini course on that page! Making candles is a very rewarding craft and I hope this article inspires you to give it a try yourself.
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