willow candle Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Ok I am very confused here. I have done alot of searches for this and it is not sinking into my brain. If I want to use 1 LB of wax, I want my candles to be at 7% Fo load, but I also want to add lets say 3% BW and 1 tsp additive also..HOW do I figure out all the amounts of each ingredient to add...???? Such as how do I figure out how much BW to add, additive to add, and the Fo???? I APPRECIATE HELP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carriegsxr6 Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 1lb of wax =16oz. You multiply 16 by 7% = 1.12oz of FO. I usually use a calculator and a very accurate electronic scale. For the 3% beeswax, Multiply 16 by 3% = .48oz of Beeswax.Also to make it easier, instead of using 16oz of wax (1lb), I just use 14oz of wax, therefore 7% of 14oz is an even .5oz of FO, and 3% of beeswax is 14 multiplyed by 3% = .42oz of beeswax.I would first add the 3% beeswax and 1tsp of additive into the scale and then add the additional amount of regular wax to give an entire total to 14oz, then melt and add your FO to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlemandave Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 I always convert to grams 454.4 grams because is equal to a lb. If you weigh in grams, you are using a smaller unit of measurement and since it is very hard to be precise without very expensive equipment, the smaller unit will bring you closer to perfection. I bought a $500 scale that can weighs in increments of 1/2 grams and even with this type of scale I am not perfect, but pretty darn close.Remember that to get your percentages correct, you take your total weight and that is where you start from. So if your candle is 1 lb, then you start at 454.4grams.7% of this is 31.808, which is better said 32grams or 31 to be on the safe side.You have a wax percentage at 93% left over then or 423.4 (i took the safe route of 31 grams) This is 454.4grams - 31 grams.How you do your wax is up to you. I always blend my wax first except for the dye and have this to work with all the candles I'm making. If your wax blend is 3% bee, then you have 454.4 x .03 which is 13.632 or 13.5 grams to make it easier. So 13.5 grams of bee and the rest (97%) is your soy or parrafin. When adding teaspoon things to your wax blend, the teaspoons rarely are that much in weight (like UV) ( I don't have my spreadsheet with this data here with me, but maybe a gram per tsp). I hate using teaspoons because it is much better to know the number of grams you need and weigh this.So there is my method. I blend my wax base up first, then do the percentages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broadzilla Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Wow...I thought I was scared before....Wishing I had paid more attention in math in school.:embarasse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Here's a sample formula based on what you said:7% fragrance3% beeswax1% additive89% wax(total = 100%)It can be better sometimes to start with the weight of the candle you're making, or the total amount of mixture you want to make, rather than just the amount of wax. If you wanted to make just enough mixture for a 16 oz net weight candle, then the amounts would be as follows:16 x .07 = 1.12 oz fragrance16 x .03 = 0.48 oz beeswax16 x .01 = 0.16 oz additive16 x .89 = 14.24 oz wax(total = 16 oz = 100%)Sometimes you start off with the amount of wax you're using instead of the candle weight. Let's say you're starting with 1 lb wax and want to know what amounts of the other ingredients are needed to get specific percentages. There's just one additional step of figuring out what the amount of the total mixture is going to be. After that it works the same way:total mixture = 16 oz wax weight divided by .89 = 17.98 oz17.98 x .07 = 1.26 oz fragrance17.98 x .03 = 0.54 oz beeswax17.98 x .01 = 0.18 oz additive17.98 x .89 = 16 oz wax(total = 17.98 oz = 100%)It only seems complicated when you first look at it. Study these examples and a light may come on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 1lb of wax =16oz. You multiply 16 by 7% = 1.12oz of FO. I usually use a calculator and a very accurate electronic scale. For the 3% beeswax, Multiply 16 by 3% = .48oz of Beeswax.Carrie, the method you use is very common but incorrect. It doesn't give you the percentages you're trying to use. Unfortunately, it doesn't even have the benefit of consistency, because the more ingredients you use besides wax, and the greater the amount of those ingredients, the further off the calculation gets.For instance, if you try to calculate 7% FO with 1 lb wax, you get 1.12 oz FO and 17.12 oz total mixture. That's 1.12 / 17.12 = 6.54% FO, or about 6.6% less fragrance than you were aiming for.If you change the formula to try for 9% FO, you get 1.44 oz FO and 17.44 oz total mixture, which is 1.44 / 17.44 = 8.26% FO. That's 8.2% less than you were aiming for.If you take that recipe and add 3% beeswax to it, you get 1.44 oz FO and 0.48 oz beeswax, for 17.92 oz total mixture. That's 1.44 / 17.92 = 8.04% FO and 0.48 / 17.92 = 2.68% beeswax. This time it's about 10.7% less fragrance than you were aiming for besides being the wrong amount of beeswax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willow candle Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 top,Do I always divide by .89... like you said a 16 oz candle would be 17.98 wax for starters...???This is what I did earlierI was going to figure 1 Lb of wax (doing 5- 4oz tins) anywayI wanted 8% Fo load, and 3% BW (skipped the additive this time)So I tared the scale and measured out .48 oz of BW, and added to that until I got 16 oz of wax...when wax was melted I added 1.3 oz fohmmm wonder if I did it right??!!!! Betcha I didnt' .. anyway I am printing out all the info.. so I can study it:D The tins hold 3.2 oz of liquid... so if I took that x 5 (for the 5 tins I want to fill) so it would be 16 oz.. So I think I would subtract the fo and Bw % from there.... so lets see 8% Fo would be 1.25 , the Bw would be 3 % at .48.. so subtract all those from 16 oz and I would actually use 14.27 oz of wax IS THAT CORRECT??THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Willow, the best thing is to weigh a candle and subtract the weight of the container and wick. That gives you the net weight of the candle. It's actually the weight of the candle mixture, including wax, FO and everything.If you know how much that is, it's easy to break it down into all the ingredients and figure out the weight of each, including the wax, by percentage. All the percentages add up to 100%. Follow the first example I gave above, but instead of 16 oz substitute the net weight of the candles you're making.It often makes sense to start with the weight of the mixture you need to make, because that's what's gonna be poured into the containers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willow candle Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 THANK YOU VERY MUCH EVERYONE>>>> I AM GOING TO DO THIS METHOD TODAY.. Have a great weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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