Petroleum based candle making wax is probably the most common form of candle making wax on the market. This is popularly referred to as paraffin wax, and it is the wax used to create most store bought candles.
The beauty of making homemade candles, however, is that you will have the opportunity to experiment with a variety of other natural candle making wax types as well. By "natural" I am referring a naturally occurring renewable candle making wax (although petroleum is naturally occurring, it is not a renewable resource).
There are several natural candle making wax products easily available to the home candle maker. The most popular natural candle making wax types include:
- Beeswax - Beeswax is a natural candle making wax used for centuries. Beeswax comes from a bees honeycomb, and in available in both yellow and white forms. Beeswax has a very pleasant aroma when burned, and it tends to burn cleaner than most paraffin wax. Beeswax can be a bit expensive to purchase, although those who frequently use this candle making wax in their candles will claim it is well worth the added expense.
- Soy wax - Soy based vegetable waxes are a fairly new addition to the candle making wax market, but they have been extremely popular. Soy wax tends to be more affordable than many other natural waxes on the market, in part because it comes from a resource that is grown and harvested on a large scale globally. When using soy wax, you should be aware that it often behaves quite differently than paraffin candle making wax, so you cannot simply just substitute it in you candle making recipes. Instead, you will have to experiment and learn about how it responds to heat, scent throwing, wick selection and other candle making properties.
- Palm Wax - Coming from the palm tree, palm wax is a tropical based natural wax that has some amazing marbling properties when used as a candle making wax. It is also a very hard wax. Palm wax also holds color and scent very well, and can be blended with softer candle making wax types (such as soy wax) to create beautiful candles.
- Bayberry Wax - Bayberry wax is a natural candle making wax that comes from the bayberry bush. Historically it was used by early American colonists for candle making. Bayberry wax has a very distinctive fragrance and can be a bit hard to come by (and expensive) because of the labor intensive nature of harvesting the bayberry fruit for candle making wax.
In coming posts, I will examine each of these candle making wax types in more detail, and provide some useful candle making recipes for those who are interested in experimenting with natural candle making wax. Please visit the Candle Making Wax Information Page again for more discussion of these wonderful natural candle making waxes.
