Hey everybody, it's Charlotte with the Wooden
Wick Co. and today on Makers Moments i'll be showing you
how to use mica in candles. There are so many different colors of
micas out there and they are a super fun way
to add some shimmer and shine to your candles.
There are many different ways you can utilize mica in your candles but i'll be
covering my top three ways to use mica in this video today. So i have here on
the table a few of our micas. This is pearl mica,
gold mica, and copper mica. You can create a variety of different
color tones with these three depending on how much mica you add.
So the main two ways that you can utilize mica are by adding it to your
melted wax, or by putting it on top of your candle
after your candle has fully cooled. So this is an example here of utilizing
mica on the surface of your candle. That's going to give you a really pretty
strong shimmer. When you use mica on the surface of your
candle, i'll demonstrate how to do that. You can either use your finger or you
can use a paintbrush. So a little bit goes a very long way.
Open up your bag of mica and i just dip my finger in there. This mica is a
100%t skin safe it can be used in cosmetics,
it can be used in body care, so it's totally safe to put on your finger.
And then just dab it on to the surface of your candle
and add more as needed until you get to the look that you'd like.
Using your finger gives you a lot of control over how much mica to use
and sort of what the swirls will look like.
Alternatively, another fun trick is to use a paintbrush.
So using a paint brush still gives you a lot of flexibility
and creates a pretty sort of swirled, almost
like a real hand painted look on the surface of your candle.
So you can simply just use your finger to spread that around the surface
of the candle and again that's going to give you a really strong
shimmery look. You can add micas, crystals, or other
fun non-flammable enhancers onto the top of your candle. And
then the next way that you can utilize mica in your candles is by adding it to
melted wax. So if you'd like the mica to be in your
candle throughout the duration of the burn,
you can add it to your wax while it's actually liquefied.
I suggest adding the mica once your wax has reached its
specific melt and pour temperature, and
a quick little formula is to use - about one pinch for every eight ounces of
liquefied wax. A pinch is roughly 1/32 of a teaspoon.
But if you'd like to start with just a small pinch
and move up from there based on your desired color,
that is a good place to start. You don't want to use
too much mica so don't dump the entire bag
because that will clog your wick. Micas tend to clog cotton wick candles a
bit more than wooden wick candles, so you do have a little more flexibility
when using wooden wicks. But again, a little bit goes a long way, so
don't feel like you need to overload your wax with mica
in order to get a shimmer. And also when you add it to your liquefied wax,
it's going to swirl around in a really beautiful way
while your candle is burning, so that's a fun
little visual experience that you'll give yourself or your customers when
using mica. Mica is a 100% natural material
and it's mined from titanium oxide and iron oxides.
It's 100% skin safe, you can use it in tons of different products to add
shimmer to them, and I love using mica in soaps, candles,
and other body care products. When you're sourcing your mica, be sure
that you are only buying ethically sourced micas, because they are
mined so you want to double check that. And when you purchase a mica from the
Wooden Wick Co, all of them are going to be ethically
sourced, as well as we donate a portion towards eradicating
child labor. So this is definitely a product that you
can feel good about and have a lot of fun using.
These are just a few of the colors that we offer and
always adding more fun ones to our collection. So
if you're ready to try mica, let me know which method you try below.
Whether you paint it onto the surface of your candle with a paintbrush or a
finger, or you are adding it to your melted wax.
Can't wait to see what you guys create! Thanks so much for watching and be sure
to subscribe to our channel to stay in the know
on all the latest makers tips and tricks. Happy making!