How to Make and Market Gel Candles

Gel Candle Designs: Summer Pie Candles

Dessert gel candles are a big hit — and  with so many new ways to incorporate paraffin and gel together, leaving our customers squealing with delight.

Note: Non-food, not-edible candle items.

We, at BioMax, are very pleased to be able to bring you another packaging idea that can be a “2-in-1″ surprise. We now have pie slice containers in which you can actually pour 150-160 degree molten paraffin, to mold your pie slice base. Then adding the toppings of your choice, you have a completed candle, quick and simple. After final creation of your candle, you can then sell the candle in the same container package. Another feature is that they are even ’stackable’, for ease in packing and shipping.

This month we feature instructions on several ‘pie-slice’ designs as well as cheesecake and brownie slice sundaes. The pie slices and cheesecake slices are formed and packaged inside the pie slice containers, and the brownie slice is actually poured from our new silicone ‘cake slice’, and is boxed in the square clear container package-see pictures. So let’s get on with the show!

Peanut Butter Pie Candles

Wax & Gel Candle Pies

We poured a caramel-colored paraffin into the pie slice container. As the paraffin cools, it will shrink just enough to drop out of the pie container. Some customers are spraying the containers with a non-stick cooking spray to make the release even easier. You can also place the poured containers in the freezer to speed up the set, in this hot weather. When the piece is cooled, drop it out and use your B.E.T. (BioMax Embedding Tool) to pierce the center wick hole. Thread a 50’s series wick through the bottom and place the wax back inside the container, to help shape the topping you will create in the next step.

For our peanut butter pie, we wanted lots of fluffy whipping and a chocolate ‘gel’ drizzling. We melted white paraffin from our ‘whipping cream blend’ scented with our new Peanut Butter Cup FO. Allow the paraffin to start to set so that you can lift chunks of wax and place on the top of your pie base. It will be pliable and easy to form and mound with your fingers. Our grand finale is drizzling chocolate scented and colored gel over the top of the ‘whipping cream’.

VARIATIONS: With just some changes to the shading of the paraffin and gel, you can use exactly the same technique to make Butterscotch cream pie slices also. We used a more ‘caramel’ color on the pie base and the gel, and scented with our new Butterscotch Caramel FO. Similarly, using brown paraffin and gel, you have Chocolate Silk Pie. With more yellow based, you have Lemon or Banana crème- don’t forget those wax banana slices and wax chocolate crumb topping! The ideas are only as endless as your taste buds!! At the Chicago convention this last weekend, we even made a German Chocolate Pie slice, using some stearic and soy flakes and wax pecan pieces with over-pouring of gel scented with German Chocolate FO.

Fruit-Topped Cheesecake Candles

Wax & Gel Candle Cheese Cakes

And who says we can only do pies??? A ‘cheesecake’ base can be made with a very pale cream-colored paraffin base (exactly as the steps above) and scented with Cheesecake FO.

After the wick has been loaded and the base returned to the container, just lay your wax fruits on top of the cake base, and pour COOLED and thickened (colored & scented) gel over the entire top. Whether blueberries, strawberries, cherry, raspberries, etc.. trim the wick to ¼” and you have a masterpiece! In our picture, we created a Strawberry Cheesecake Candle. These candles whip-up in no time, and you can mass-produce. (If you simply don’t have the time and/or space to pour the paraffin bases, we also have them pre-poured in the containers to get you started.)

Variation: Similar.. with a tan-colored base, we added wax ‘cooked apple slices’ to the top, and poured cooled apple scented gel and sprinkled dutch apple crumb topping. We topped that layer with a wax ice cream scoop and re-poured more apple gel for a wonderful syrupy Dutch Apple slice candle.

Wax & Gel Candle Pies

Unique Fudge Brownie Sundae Candles

Wax & Gel Candle Brownies

Since the pie slice containers allow for the shape of the bottom crust, we found that we couldn’t use this container for a ‘cake slice’ mold because we needed the size to be different for authenticity. So we created a silicone mold for a cake slice. We have a single-layer mold OR a double-layer mold which has a third cavity for a thin ‘oozing’ icing filler for the middle. We will unveil the double layer cake in a future article, however, this month we used the same single layer mold, poured about half full, to create a brownie wedge slice.

Pouring a deep chocolate-colored and scented paraffin, we again used the BET tool to pierce the wick hole and threaded it from the bottom. (Remember to leave your wicks longer for the toppings you will add.) Next we threaded a wax ice cream scoop and then poured semi-cooled fudge scented gel over the slice and the ice cream scoop and topped it with the bright red wax cherry. This candle packages in our square clear container box making it simple to take for shows and leaving customers smiling as they carry off their newest prize. It also would fit inside the ‘Fresh Baked’ boxes or the little folding candle boxes.

NOTE: Candles must ALWAYS be removed from container packaging and boxes prior to lighting!

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com

Gel Candle Designs: Celebrating Spring, Flowers and Mom

Springtime brings many new opportunities for exciting, creative gel candles ideas. Just as we watch the new re-birthing of the Earth, we also watch our children (not limited to biological) bounce through their different ‘ages and stages’, as they become the next generation of fresh ideas and new enthusiasm.

Gel Candle Floral Designs

The Earth gives us colorful flowers to brighten our spirits, and something much bigger, gives us a new vision– through gentle eyes– as we watch our children blossom…. yes, these are true gifts of life.

Please Don’t Pick the Daisies…

We started our Daisy candle using a fresh green sand base…

…Remembering first to thread our glass bead onto the wick to snuff the candle flame within the last inch, for safety.

We poured a thin coating of melted gel on top of the sand to lock it into place… use multi-colors and shades of sands and glitters for added interest for your candle base. Customers love those unique looks.

Our next step is to drop those chunks of unmelted gel AROUND the wick.. remember we want our wick to remain super straight and professional-looking.

Using the ‘chunk pouring method’ gives several benefits… you can sprinkle nonflammable glitters and foil shapes to add depth and character, creating the look of suspension to your candle. The chunks also give you substance to hold wax and glass pieces in place . A third benefit is to save time; no need to melt ALL the gel. The gel chunks also give you a quicker cooling time so that you don’t melt wax embeds.

We sprinkled our celestial gold glitter on the chunks and over-poured the liquid gel (scented with our Top-Rated floral scent: Flowering Laurel). This makes just a fabulous, yet a very simple and elegant look.

We wanted our candle to have a ‘2-looks-in-1′… so we selected a yellow daisy for one side and a pink daisy for the other, and chose some loose green wax leaves to position two leaves on one side of the flower for a realistic look.

After our gel begins to thicken, we can slide our wax flower down into the gel, pushing close to the glass surface.

Next we use our BET (embedding tool) to position the leaves where they are most attractive to the eye. We do a final ‘tug’ on our wick and we are finished with another masterpiece that will be a favorite for customers.

Gel Candle Floral Designs

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com

Gel Candle Designs: Celebrating Graduations

Graduation!! …Life is just beginning…… We have a very special family member graduating High School . She has been accepted to her First-Choice college so we have incorporated her college colors into her graduation candle.

Graduation Gel Candle - vop view of candle

You can also use the high school colors for the base of the candle and then use the college colors for the top half of the candle… perfect to show the transition.

We used purple stones, glitters and foils in the base of our candle, again installing our snuffing bead to insure the flame will self-extinguish at least 1″ above the bottom. We poured a thin layer of gel to seat the color base.

Our next step was again to drop our chunks of unmelted gel around the wick.

Graduation Gel Candle - frontview of candle

We sprinkled celestial purple and gold onto the chunk and poured liquid gel scented with our newest Tranquil Nights FO, which is a special Wonderful new blend of lavender and vanillas plus more.

We then added more chunks and more glitters and fuchsia diamond shapes, and did the remaining pour of liquid gel. We allowed the candle to cool slightly because we have a glass Graduate and Diploma to add and they are somewhat heavy glass embeds.

Again, having our chunks in the body of the candle will give the necessary strength to help hold our embeds in position, but we still want to wait for the gel to thicken.

Then we install our graduate and diploma, using the embed tool to position where we want. Add the top ‘Congratulation Grad’ garland on the outside of the glassware, and you have a finished candle with a great theme, while also customizing for school colors.

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com

Gel Candle Designs: St. Patrick’s Day

Let’s all celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day and the Luck of the Irish with these delightful gel candles!

• The base for this candle actually starts with our paraffin wax ‘deep dish cobbler’. It is always lots of fun to be able to use our candle stash in different ways.
• The cobbler piece comes predrilled with a hole in the center for the wick. We placed the ‘cobbler’ on a small dessert plate, with the 60s series wick installed.
• Next we added a piece of our white color pallet to melted gel to make the white ‘icing’ for our cake. We used our new HerbEssence FO which has a very clean and fresh scent perfect for so many springtime candles.
• Allow the gel to start to cool and thicken to resemble icing.
• We poured the gel over the top of the cobbler piece, allowing it to drape over the sides of the paraffin base.
• Next we added our green wax shamrocks around the base of the candle. Since our gel was still ‘wet’ the shamrocks adhere right to the sides of our cake.
• Then we sprinkled some gold glitter and bright green foil shamrocks randomly onto the cake and the plate.. added our glass rainbow to the top, and finally our St. Paddy glass embed himself to the front.

What a cute decoration for the March holiday!

St Patrick's Day Gel Candle "Cake"

UPDATE

Question From Reader:

From the photo you have on the Shamrock Candle (above) You have put foil shamrocks on the candle itself. I was wondering… Is this safe to put anything that will burn ON a candle???? I could make gorgeous Valentine candles with baking candy and other foil hearts…etc…but is this safe????? I didn’t think it would be safe to do the above….Especially IN or ON candles I would want to sell. Anyone? Rosie

Patti ’s reply:
Dear Rosie, “Glitter and foil shapes” can be made of all kinds of poly products. Some poly products burn badly and even can produce very toxic fumes. Others have flame retardants added, and even others, such as poly products which are microwave and dishwasher safe, are nonflammable. So it is always important to hold that flame to any piece you are going to use in or on a candle and insure that it will not torch and become its own wick. The Shamrocks you see on the candle do not flame. The problem with sugar ingredients is that the sugar can caramelize and burn. That’s why we change over to wax ‘candy pieces’. Good Questions!!! Best, Patti at BioMax

Editor’s Note: we do not recommend putting any flammable items inside your gel candle… if you choose to do so… we recommend using double-nested glassware (items and gel outer glass / gel and wick inner glass) to keep the inflammable items away from the wick.

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com

Gel Candle Designs: Sparkling Snowflake Candles

Wow! – We have some EXCITING new ideas that are fast and easy for the novice, as well as innovative and professional-looking to challenge the seasoned gel candle maker. As the holidays approach, we have the lead on the commercial market with our “handcrafted products” uniquely created from our own hands and minds… as we share our talents, and bring smiles to the faces of our customers.

In this article we have attempted to give you lots of extra detail and new information so you can answer questions at your shows. Remember knowledge is power! Having many facts about your products arms you if you tend to be a little nervous at the beginning of your shows. Customers always have questions and you want to be prepared and knowledgeable.

SPARKLING SNOWFLAKES….

Our Sparkling-Snowflake Candle are scented with our newest festive scent, “Holiday Icicles”. We have always found that anything BLUE is a top seller in candles.

We used just a few sprinkles of our Blue Color Crystals (no mess like liquids!) in melted gel for beautiful winter-blue color. We also added a few sprinkles of celestial blue glitter to add the necessary glimmer.

We selected a piece of glassware with flat sides so that our wax snowflakes would easily be visible, right up close to the glass wall.

We poured the gel and then MOST IMPORTANTLY… waited… the necessary time for the gel to cool to about 140-150 degrees. (Check with candy thermometer if you are just learning wax embedding.)

Next we dusted our white wax snowflakes with celestial silver glitter to give them depth and more definition once embedded.

Using our embedding tool (BET) we positioned the wax flakes around the sides of the candle.

Our finishing touch is to embed a couple iridescent 1″ glitter snowflakes between the wax snowflakes…this is a really popular look because these flakes show only from certain angles so that they magically appear and disappear.

We also added a very slight dusting of celestial glitter to the TOP of the candle for that added sparkling finish.

That’s all and simply beautiful!

Sparkling Snowflakes Gel Candles

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com

Halloween Pumpkin and Candy Corn Gel Candles

It is said that Halloween is one of the most decorated holidays besides Christmas, so in preparation, this month we feature a Pumpkin Patch gel candles, with glass embeds, and a Candy Corn Candle, with wax embeds. Let’s get started..

PUMPKIN PATCH CANDLE

Halloween Pumpkin Gel Candles

The highlight of this candle is a glass, orange Jack-O’-Lantern and two black bats. We poured a mix of black sand and celestial gold glitter in the base of the glassware and sealed it off with thin layer of gel, making sure our glass wick bead was above the sand level so that the flame will self-extinguish before reaching the sand. The gold glitter adds a lot of depth and makes the sand appear three-dimensional.

Next we added some clear chunks of gel to help hold our glass embeds in place, speed-up our candle cooling time and also give more interest. We then sprinkled the chunks with more celestial gold glitter. Now it is time to pour the rest of the candle, and we chose Pumpkin Pie fragrance. We allowed the gel to semi cool before lowering our pumpkin and bat embeds. Give that final tug on the wick to make sure it is super straight and trim to ¼” for the initial burn. Our finishing touch was a few little white ghosts and BOO! foil shapes sprinkled on the top of the candle. Simple, easy, fast and fun!

CANDY CORN CANDLE

Halloween - Fall - Candy Corn Gel Candles

Our second feature candle this month is a candy jar candle decorated with wax candy corn in the yellow, white and orange Halloween colors. Candy candles are fun to make and always a hit with young and old. (Keep in mind that if you are using real ‘candy’, you must use a two-piece glass arrangement because, for safety, real candy should never be housed in the same container as the wick.)

Hinged jars are easy to find at local dimes stores and are perfect for candy candles. In order to keep your raw costs down, we recommend that you merely line the walls of the glassware with the wax embeds and thus keeping the center cylinder pure gel for that long burn time that customers love from gel candles. This will save you money yet still give a very good visual of the candy theme.

We like to color the gel a pale shade, coordinating with the embeds we are using. Then if we get some color bleed, it will not be near as apparent. Colors tend to bleed most with reds and deep blues and purples. The fragrances you choose can also have an affect on the coloring, so keep all this in mind as you test your designs.

We colored our gel a light orange using just a few of our peach color crystals (no mess or spills). We scented the gel with our Candy Corn fragrance. We poured the candle about ¾ full and tossed in a few gel chunks to help cool the gel faster and start our ’set’. We know that if we insert wax embeds into hot gel, they WILL melt so we need to be patient and wait for the gel to get really thick. We test this by circular ’stirring’ with the wick and also feeling the heat of the gel using our finger. This takes some experience so you must be careful when you are starting out! Place your hands around the outside of the glassware to get an idea of how warm the gel is. to guard against burns. Unlike the nasty, skin-removing burns from hot glue guns, the gel will slide right off the skin, however, you still need to be careful and children should always be supervised.

The height of the gel should still allow for displacement of the wax embeds you are going to add. We place the wax candies in a jigsaw puzzle pattern filling in the sidewalls to look full and attractive. Use your own creativity as you embed your pieces, and use your embedding tool (B.E.T.) to turn the pieces the direction you want. Snip the wick at ¼” and admire your work!!

There are many really cute pieces of glassware decorated for Halloween. so keep an eye out. Have a fun and safe Halloween!!!

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com

Gel Candle Designs: Southern Pecan Pie Gel Candle

"pecan pie" Gel Candles

Wicks: We use a 60’s series wick in our 5-inch pie. Some prefer to use three 50s wicks. This depends on the amount of light you want and the speed to burn the candle down.

Seat the wick on the bottom of the aluminum pie pan by dipping the wick into the melted gel. Use our BET tool to tightly seat the wick against the pan. The gel is strong enough to hold the metal tab in place and the surrounding solidified gel will hold it in place.

The zinc-core wick will stand erect and you can snip off the extra height just above the top of the pie tin so that the wick does not become unwieldy as you work around it.

Dye: Depending on the volume of dye used, the Maple sugar liquid dye will produce from a champagne color to a tea or cola color to a deep, rich chocolate or coffee color. The liquid colors are wonderful for shading your colors. Use a little to get pastels; add more dye for a deeper, more vibrant color.

Pour this ‘dark’ gel just about an inch so that the metallic bottom of the pan will not shine through the pie.

Sprinkle a few stearic flakes if you want a look that is a little more opaque.

Scent: Southern Pecan Pie FO gives an authentic holiday aroma.

Next, add a few un-melted chunks of gel around the wick to speed up your candle-making (less gel to melt, cools the hot liquid gel faster and speeds the ’set’ to your candle.) In this manner, when you add the wax pieces (see below) to the top of your pie, the cooled gel won’t melt them.

Continue to pour more liquid gel, colored to the degree you desire for the final pie top.

Pie Crust: When the gel is almost to the top rim of the tin and is a cooler temperature, you are ready to ‘install’ the round crust. Just lay it in place on the tin rim. The wax crust by itself will look very naked and so we always ’slurp’ the gel onto the crust to get that authentic, baked look …just like from our ovens.

Adding Embeds: Once the pie has cooled sufficiently and you can ’stir’ the wick and see thickness set in the gel, it is time to add your wax pecan halves, pieces and chips. Because you used chunks of un-melted gel underneath, the nuts should not sink, but make sure you have enough ’set’ to the gel before adding.

If the nut embeds start to sink, simply pull them out, pull off the gel and re-add them a few minutes later.

Topping Glaze: we pour just a bit of cool gel over top of the pecans to get the glazed nice look and ‘full pie’ appearance.

Place your pie on a glass plate to add to the beauty… and you will surely have the attention of your guests and customers.

Display in mini pie boxes.

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com

Gel Candle Designs: Tropical Fruit Pie Gel Candles

Here we have a new summer fresh pie rendition… a Tropical Fruit Pie gel candle with a wax ‘graham cracker crust’.

Tropical Fruit Pie Gel Candle

Fill your pie tins with the usual colored and scented gel so customers get the long burn time. We used our Tropical Fruit fragrance.

Next – add some whitening crystals to a little melted gel to ‘top off’ the pie… for the creamy ‘pudding pie’ look. Allow to slightly thicken and pour over the top surface.

Next we spooned our new graham crust (wax) around the rim of the Pie.

Now arrange your pieces of tropical fruits, mounded in the center to look authentic and attractive.

The next step is to drizzle semi-cooled/thickened clear/scented gel over the top surface to lock the fruits and crust together and add that professional glaze.

Finish with a sprinkling of the wax coconut….place in your packaging box, and watch the customers flock to you!

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com

Gel Candle Designs:  Lily of the Valley Wedding Gel Candle

Love is in the Air – Lily of the Vally gel candles for Bridal Showers and Weddings.

Wedding - Lily of the Valley Gel Candles

We chose glassware with legs to add to the elegance and a great way to wrap florals around the base.

We filled the glass with chunks of clear gel sprinkled with our metallic gold microdots for glitz and shimmer.

We then poured the candle with clear gel scented the with Angel Touch FO for light, soft fragrance.

After allowing the gel to semi-cool, we embedded our large double wedding bells and also some individual smaller wedding bells randomly around the candle.

In our wedding collection, we have a metallic bride and groom which fits perfect in front of the large focal-point bell. We finished the centerpiece with floral lilies of the valley at the outside base. Perfection and elegance!

Article & Design by Patti Smith, Design Artist
BioMax Candle Supply ~ www.biomax1.com