Hey makers! I'm Charlotte from the Wooden Wick Co. And I'm Jeff Standley from Standley
Handcrafted. Today Jeff and I are going to walk you through all of the components
you need to get started making candles. Jeff why don't you start us off?
First off we're going to start out with finding a vessel. It's always important
to find a good vessel that you want to work with and which one is this?
That is our matte black Aura from the Wooden Wick Co. Okay so this is the one
that we're going to be using. Perfect - make sure you find out what the diameter is
of your vessel how many ounces of wax it holds, and that it's safe for use in
candle making. Now I have candle wax! This is the Virgin Coconut Soy from woodenwick.com.
So when you pick your candle wax, there are a lot of options out there.
You want to make sure that you have a candle wax that's easy to work with, has
great glass adhesion, and it's going to give you a good hot and cold throw. So this
Virgin Coconut Soy wax from Wooden Wick is super easy to work with and love the
performance on this wax. Next up you're going to want to find a fragrance oil that
you want to work with. Now this is a really nice one from the Wooden Wick Co.
It's Woody Leather and Brandy and the other thing that you want to look for
along with the wax - most waxes, and I know your guys as wax does this, it tells
you exactly how much oil to put into the wax per pound. So you definitely want to
pay attention to that. Yes absolutely. And the last component in your candle is
going to be your wick. So today we're going to be working with wooden wicks. Wooden wicks are a
great wick to start out with if you're an entry-level candle maker. They're easy
to use, and if you start out with this sample kit here you'll get a nice
instruction card on candle making tips to help you start out, as well as
a big selection of different wooden wicks to choose from. Each package will
tell you which type of wick is best for which type of wax, so all you need to do
is read the bag, it'll let you know the wax companion for that wick and that'll
be the wick you want to use based on which wax type you're using. What's next
on deck? Next you're probably going to want to get a
good scale. Now this is definitely something you need in any beginning
candle kit or whatever you're going to get, and the one thing you want to pay
attention to when you do get a scale is make sure that it goes down and weighs
at the lowest possible possible measurement. So you when you're
doing oils, you want to make sure that you get the one point one, point two,
point three, and if that's off a little bit it can definitely affect your candle.
So make sure that you get one that it can actually measure down that low.
Precision precision precision! Okay we also have our handy dandy heat gun. So we
like to refer to a heat gun as the candle maker's best friend. A heat gun is
basically going to help you smooth out any imperfections on the surface of your
candle - if you have cracks, dents, divots, whatever happened to that candle during
your candle making process - your heat gun can basically fix it.
Absolutely. It's an awesome tool to have. A heat gun is definitely one I always tell people
to get, it's just going to fix everything and make sure that you get a smooth top
every time. Totally worth the investment. Make your life easy - get a heat gun! What else
do we have? Next up is going to be a melting pitcher, and we've got the
thermometer in there as well. Obviously you're gonna be using that to
to find out the temperature of your wax when you're heating it up so that you
know you're going to take the wax to a certain degree and then you're going to add
your oil at a certain temperature as well, so very important. These long stem
ones are really nice to hold inside of the pitcher, and of course which leads
us right into the next piece, which is the melting pitcher itself. Now
these are a very good one. I believe this one holds up to four
pounds. I typically do two to three pounds in this one, but a very useful
tool and something you're absolutely going to need when starting out. And you
can tell Jeff is a professional because he hooked that thermometer on with one hand!
So when you get to that skill level of candlemaker, that's when you know you've
really made it! Okay two tools that are really nice to have around, especially if
you're using a wax that comes in slab form. So waxes come in both flake and
slab form depending on the type of wax and it's melt temperature and this is
our wax cutter, so really helpful to just measure out the amount of wax you need.
You may not always be making the amount of candles that correlate to your total
slab, so good to have this. You don't have to reach into your kitchen tools at home
and get candle wax on them. And then the wax tongs are another little fun tool
that can help you just handle your wax. You can also use gloves, but just keeps
things a little bit cleaner in the process. Exactly, the wax tongs are really
nice especially, like Charlotte said, when you're working with certain waxes they
can be a little bit softer and if you're moving quickly back and forth between
the vessels to the wicks and everything like that, you can definitely get the wax
on your hand, so having the tongs to pick that stuff up makes a big difference. Yes
I like to call myself a messy maker! I tend to spill things or
get things on myself, so having wax tongs, a wax cutter helps to proof my area and
make sure I'm not making it an even bigger mess. Next up we've got a
a good set of wick trimmers. Now these are going to come in handy
when you're going through, if you're pouring large batches of candles, having
a good tool to go through and cut the wicks - it helps a lot. So a good set of
wick trimmers will help tremendously. Next, a double boiler. So you need a stove
safe pot as well as a hot plate. Basically the way that you melt candle
wax is you put the candle wax directly into your pouring pitcher and then the
pouring pitcher is going to go and sit in the
double-boiler just like how you would melt chocolate, same way that you would
melt candle wax. And this helps to melt the candle wax nice and evenly so you
don't get any hot spots. Exactly, a very important tool and a lot of people ask
this one, this basically keeps the wax from scorching or
burning if you have it on direct heat. So this is a very good method to melt your
wax. Definitely. Last tool we have here is a snuffer. This is a great tool that you
can either use burning your candles yourself, or you can sell them to your
customers if you are selling your candles. But this is a nice safe way to
extinguish a candle when you're done burning it. So this is the rundown on all
the components that you need to start out candle making. In our future videos,
Jeff and I are going to walk you through in-depth an explanation on each of
these components how to choose the best one for you, and ultimately how to make
that perfect wooden wick candle! So we can't wait to share this with you! Stay
tuned for our future makers tips and tricks. Happy making!