I came across an investment of mine a few days ago while packing up my house. Well over a year ago I decided to pour some money into one of my smaller businesses which had been sitting in the infancy mode for a good while.
I bought 100kgs of paraffin wax - 4 boxes of 25kgs in the form of A3 sheets of wax about 5cm thick.
These have been sitting there and with my main business being my main work priority, I haven't touched them. Yesterday I decided that seeing as I can't easily lift 25kg boxes of wax, maybe I should rather see how many candles I can make in the last month I'm here, box them up with nice packaging and then I have ready to sell stock that goes with me to my next abode instead of having big boxes of wax that goes into storage.
Made sense at the time and I really just wanted to make candles ok?
Considering how long ago I bought this wax, I looked up the current cost of it and it's gone up in price by the equivalent of $53, that's just inflation so I've already scored lol.
It took me about 2 hours of searching for my wax melting pot to not find it...so I had to choose another one and I chose an aluminium high-sided ex pressure cooker pot that Lory's gran gave me - it's quite thick metal so the heat should be better distributed and with the high sides, it provides some extra safety from wax burns - they hurt a lot so best to be avoided wherever possible.
Next I got out a slab of wax and then my trusty chisel and small claw hammer because I'm a badass. Lol. No, not really, but this is actually the easiest and most time efficient way to break up these slabs. It makes a big noise which is not ideal (you can't really do this at night without waking up your neighbours) but it has to be done.
Then I pulled out my candle scents. A small selection but some lovely smells...Vanilla, Rose Geranium, Lavender, Jasmine, Juniper Berry, Cinnamon and Citronella. I'd love to get more, maybe that's my next investment.
Pulled out the moulds - the pillar candle moulds are made from pvc plumbing pipe and end caps. They make fantastic moulds, you can cut the length that you need and interchange them depending if you need longer or shorter candles. They are a cost effective solution that's easily replaceable whenever necessary instead of spending a fortune on commercial candle moulds. I'm frugal like this and I'm always looking at containers as possible candle moulds, I can't help it.
Chuck in the wax and melt it, check the temperature with a wax thermometer until it's cool enough to add the colour and scent (a really important step - if it's too hot, I find that the scent just evaporates out).
I am really bad at measuring out wax, so I generally just make more than the number of moulds I have. In this particular pour I was able to make 9 candles. I chose to make some light pink ones and scent them with Rose Geranium, they basically look and smell like wax versions of Turkish Delight.
I don't know why, but the first pour almost always seems to bubble and then I get rid of those with my top up pour once the first pour has shrunk and cooled.
Yes, I use prestik (or blue tack) to hold my wicks in place wrapped around wooden skewer sticks. There are commercially available metal things that do the same function, but this works just fine for me, why re-invent the wheel right?
Then I let them cool for a good couple hours (8 to 12hrs) at room temperature, not in a fridge. They tend to cool more evenly this way and are less prone to cracking or buckling.
Then I just remove the skewers, prestik and the end cap and the candle just slides out. I even out the bottom, trim the wicks and voila - they are ready for labels and packaging.
They smell divine.
The next batch is probably going to be Vanilla (coloured cream) and then probably Jasmine (white).
I'm not sure how many I'll be able to make before the end of December, but I think it'll be fun and from February 2022 I'll be able to sign up to some markets and maybe send some stock to shops.