Finding the fragrances that you like the best is one of the pleasures of candle making. You do have to be careful, though, as some of those scents can be expensive – you don’t want to just start throwing things together.
If you’re wondering how to mix oils for candles, it basically boils down to obtaining your oils, using a test medium such as a cotton ball or a ‘salt tart’, and then finally testing on a batch of candles when you are happy with the scent blend.
Today we’ll talk about this, as well as give you some information on oils that blend well together, amounts to use, how to dilute yours oils, and what the recommended ratios are for a nice, fragrant candle. Let’s take a peek into how to mix oils for candle making!
How to Mix Your Oils for Candle Making
If you’ve already got your essential oils collected, then you are well on your way to the fun part – mixing and finding your favorite fragrances. One of the easiest ways to do this without ‘breaking the bank’ on your oils budget is to start off small.
Get a sealable jar, along with a cotton ball, and put a few drops on the oils that you wish to mix on the cotton ball. Smelling this will give you a general idea of how they mix, but you’ll want to seal up the jar and check the scent after 3 days.
Fragrances for your oils have different notes to them, which evaporate at different rates. You have your ‘Top Note’, which evaporates the fasted, As well as a ‘Base Note’ which helps to add longevity to your scent and which compliments your Top Note along with our last – the Middle Note.
The Middle Note is the one that is going to the balance of scents that make up your signature scent. By storing away the jar for a few days, you’ll get a better understanding of how these mix so that you are ready for further testing.
Once you’re happy with the scent, you can test it a little further with a combination of your oils by adding your blend along with a little salt into a wax warmer. If you still love the fragrance, then you are ready to test with a batch of candles!
What Essential Oils Mix Well Together for Candles?
While everyone has their favorites, it’s good to have a list of a few combinations which you can get started with. A few great examples include mixing Sandalwood with Red Rose, English Garden oils plus Lilac, but you don’t have to settle for only 2-part combinations, of course.
More complicated mixes like Lavender and White Sage, mixed together with Amber and Oakmoss produce a fine mix of notes that you are sure to appreciate. Keep it simple at first and play around with this. Simple mixes like Hydrangea and Orange Blossom can really surprise you and a fragrance doesn’t have to be complicated to be powerful.
Just be sure to keeps notes of the essential oils that you mix together along with the amounts – you don’t want to find that perfect blend and then forget the exact mix. A small notebook from the grocery store should be kept near at all times when you are mixing your oils.
To check the current price and availability of Essential Oils for Candle Making, click here to view the selection on Amazon.
How Much Pure Essential Oils Do I Use When Making Candles?
While you can use whatever amounts that you like (and over time you will, as you create your signature blends), a good general rule is ½ ounce of oil for every pound of wax. You may also want to use just a little more if you are working with Soy or Beeswax.
Make sure that your ‘recipe notes’ include the wax type along with the oil mixture, as you will definitely notice a change in the strength of the fragrance based on the medium and from when the candle is fully hardened.
How Do You Dilute Essential Oils for Candles?
The best way to dilute your scents is going to be to do it by your choice of wax medium, the purity of your oils, or the number of drops that you use. Wax mediums such as Soy and Beeswax will dilute the scents appreciably, but going with pure essential oils can lessen that effect.
On the flipside, less pure versions of the same scent that you’ll certainly have in your oils collection will produce a minimized version of the scent that you are looking for. Finally, if all of your oils are pure, there is a nifty way that you can dilute them on your own.
Stock up on a few 2-ounce bottles and you’re going to add 1 ounce of vodka, along with 10 drops of your favorite oil that you are hoping to tone-down a little. This trick has been used in many homemade perfumes for years and works wonderfully with oils when you want to stretch your supply a little or simply derive a milder, but still-sweet scent.
What Is the Ratio of Essential Oil to Candle Wax?
What is recommended the most for scented candles is a 6% dilution. This is achieved by mixing approximately 2 teaspoons of oil (not tablespoons!) for every 4 ounces of your wax. Try this as a start and then you’ve got a baseline that you can play with while you are finding your favorite mixes.
Final Thoughts
Mixing your own oils is easy to do, it’s just going to take a little practice so that you start getting a feeling for the interplay of notes and finds the scents that you like the most. Just be sure to practice with your scent-jar before moving up to a batch and don’t forget to write everything down.
Keeping good notes will help you to see which blends worked the best with which types of wax and it will make your recipes easier to reproduce until you’ve gotten them perfected. To make your pure oils go a longer way while practicing, you can try diluting with vodka, and this should definitely get you more mileage.
Finally, don’t be afraid to get experimental. Use a 6% dilution ratio for your candles and try mixing scents that you never thought would go together – when you find a very special fragrance that you can reproduce, there’s nothing really quite like it!