By Patti Smith, Design
Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com
Glowing
Gemstone gel
candles
made with a base of Soy Wax.
Soy wax
is one of the newest crazes to hit the candle community.
Soy wax
is made from soy beads and a 100% vegetable product.
It is opaque and very much resembles white paraffin
however comes in 'flake', form to easy to pour into
a pot to melt.
Soy burns
longer than paraffin, however not as long as gel.
Soy wax
is not very 'user-friendly' when it comes to melding
with our candle colors. Thus, you are going to have
mostly pastel colors in soy candles.
The best
news is that soy wax can take up to 1.5 ounces of fragrance
per pound of wax. So this is your best choice for customers
who want extreme scent, and are willing to pay the added
cost. Soy is said to burn much cleaner and without 'soot'
so is an environment-friendly product, a plus for naturalists.
For our
Glowing Gemstone Candles, we selected glassware which
has a wide mouth, for the presentation of our gemstone
'topper', which we will create and want to attractively
show off, since this is the focal point of our candle.
The theme
of these candles is a more 'natural' and elegant candle.
The base
is going to be soy, and then placing gel 'cubes' on
the top along with our Illuminary Embed 'stones'.
Place this
candle in the light during the day... and at night,
before lighting, the stones will reflect and give a
beautiful presentation. Once again, a design that is
unique and interesting.
This seems
to be an age when rocks and crystals are very popular
with our added celestial glitters; we can make them
simply stunning and beautiful.
First thing
we need to do is melt, color and scent a small amount
of gel which is going to be our gel 'rocks' on top of
the candle. (If you choose, you can embed these throughout
the candle; however, to have the clean burn from the
soy wax, we have simply placed them on the top for show
and theme.)
NOTE: Many
grocery stores have 'microwave pots', usually brown,
which have pouring spouts on the sides. These come in
several sizes and are perfect to pour gel to color and
scent.
We colored
a small batch (about a pound) with pastel blue and another
with green.
We are creating
a blue top which we will name "Blue Lace Agate
& Turquoise" scented with Blue Lagoon fragrance;
and a green top which we will name "Green Quartz
& Jade" scented with Juniper Breeze. (If you
struggle with the names for stones, www.craftstones.com
has a beautiful color catalogue naming a couple hundred
stones with pictures. Of course you could even add some
real stones into your 'rock topper' if you wish.)

Ok, back
to our candle. We leave the colored and scented gel
in our microwave pots to set up for later use. (This
is also the way to make clear ice cubes for your drink
candles
simply use scissors to easily cut the shapes
you want.)
Next we
melt our Soy Wax and scent it. We are leaving the soy
wax white to contrast nicely with our rock top. Attach
your wick to the bottom of the glassware to hold it
in place. Soy does take much longer to set than gel.
Pour the glass container and allow cooling. Keep checking
the wick during the setting time to make sure it remains
centered and straight. Since the soy is opaque, it isn't
as crucial to make sure the wick is perfectly straight;
however you do want it centered and correctly positioned
for a professional candle.
When the
candle is completely opaque and solid, it is time to
create the magic with our 'stone topper'. This is the
fun part. Using scissors cut the gel you previously
scented and cooled into various shapes to appear like
stone/crystals, and place them random on the top of
the soy. Then place your illuminary rocks around the
gel cubes. Next we lightly dusted with some gold celestial
glitter to give that magic, elegant sparkle.
The final
step is to re-melt a small quantity of scented soy wax.
Carefully pour a very thin layer on the top of the candles,
making SURE you fill in the nooks and crannies to adhere
your stones to the candle. NOTE: You do NOT want to
pour this soy OVER your rocks because that would give
them a white coating. You want the pure look of the
gel, which looks like glass and uncovered illuminary
stones so that they will reflect at night. This pour
is simply to attach your rock topper to the candle and
only needs to be about ¼" thick at the most.
Trim your wick to ¼" inch and you have a
fabulous Glowing Gemstone Candle. Remember to attach
tags to name the stones. You can use pink gel for Rose
Quartz, clear gel for Moonstones, dark blue for Lapis,
purple for Amethyst
just for some other examples.
Select
stunning pieces of glassware with open, wide mouth for
the display of your rock topper and don't forget to
add the shimmer of glitter, for that magic touch.
So these
are fun and easy candles to present for the holidays!
We've tried to give lots of extra 'information' this
month, for those who have not already worked with Soy
Wax yet.
So enjoy
and have fun
using your creativity
. and
sharing your talents!

http://www.Biomax1.com

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