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Incorporating scent into candle making takes the appeal of a well-crafted candle to a whole new level. There’s good reason why scented candles are so popular with candle makers. Lighting a scented candle can affect the atmosphere of a room, making it feeling more welcoming. It can even affect your mood, whether it’s by calming you down, or getting you focused, or revitalizing you. And what’s also great is that making scented candles only involves following a few, simple guidelines.

Don’t Settle

Choose well when deciding on scented oils to make your scented candles. Alcohol-based or water-based fragrances aren’t a good choice because they don’t blend well with waxes. Instead, be sure to use essential oils or fragrance oils manufactured especially for candle making. And of course the quality of the essential or fragrance oil will make a big difference, too.

Choosing a Wax

Paraffin, soy, and palm wax do what’s called ‘throw scent’ well and thus are fine choices for making scented candles. The sweet fragrance of beeswax can of course be enjoyed on its own, but it can also be combined with another fragrance. Keep in mind, however, that your fragrance of choice will smell slightly different when combined with the natural scent of beeswax.

With a little additional forethought, gel wax can also be used to make gorgeous scented candles. It’s most important to know that you should only use fragrance oils made especially for use with gel wax. Fragrances not made for gel wax won’t blend well and will produce a candle that’s hazardous to burn. The flash points produced by the fragrance oil that hasn’t blended properly can ignite.

How Much Scent to Add

It can be fun experimenting with how much fragrance to add to get the subtlety or intensity of scent that you’re aiming for. As a general rule, use between a half and one full ounce of essential oil per pound of wax. There are, however, blends of wax which can take one and a half ounces of essential oil per pound, making what’s called ‘triple scented’ candles. For gel wax, the grade or density of the wax will be a factor. The lower the grade or density, the less fragrance you’ll need to use.

Steps for Making Scented Candles

Making scented candles in most respects is the same as making unscented candles.

1. Prepare your mold and wick as usual.

2. Melt the wax in a double boiler (Melt gel wax in a pot over direct heat).

3. If it’s your choice to do so, add colorant (chips, liquid, or powder) to your melted wax and blend well.

4. Add and thoroughly mix in the fragrance oil.

5. Pour the wax into the mold for the first pour. To fill any sink holes that form as the wax cools, do a second pour of wax.

6. After the candle has cooled completely for several hours, remove it from the mold.

As you see, there are only a few additional considerations to keep in mind when making scented candle, so have fun making “scents” of it all!

Michelle Anders is a candle making enthusiast who enjoys giving tips on candle making on her website, AllAboutCandleMaking.com. On her site she presents additional Candle Making Instructions and tips on other candle making topics like Beeswax Candle Making, and more.