Once upon a time, there was a woman that believed that all candles were the same. There really was no difference and if it burned, well, it was all the quality that you needed for the candles. Of course, as all fairy tales have shown, there is always a lesson to be learnt and the woman learned that candles can be very different and there are benefits and traits that are unique to each type of candle.
Although, I would love to go through each and every type of candle that you can find out there, for the purpose of this little article, I would like to stick with one type. That type is gel candles.
If you have never had the pleasure of using a gel candle, or even seeing one, a gel candle usually comes in some type of glass container. Wine glasses, jars, shot glasses, you name it and if it is glass, it is probably made for gel.
Gel wax is an amazing wax that can take custom candles to a whole new level. Unlike many other candles that use paraffin or beeswax, gel wax is completely transparent. That means there is no film or opaqueness to the gel candle when it finally sets. It is simply a blank canvas that can be used to create with.
But how do you create with gel? Well that is really the beauty of it. Gel wax is generally soft and pliable. This makes it an excellent gel to use if you want to add things to the candle. One of the best examples of how to use gel successfully is to look at Gel Fruit Candles. These little candles use gel wax and wax embeds, which are little wax sculptures. You can find embeds of just about everything and you can make anything from a fruit jar to an ocean scene at the bottom of a candle.
Since you can add things with ease to gel candles, it should be no surprise that gel candles hold color and fragrance very well. That’s right, since gel candles start out transparent; any addition of wax dye will work through the wax completely and will create a pure color, one that is not muddied by the opaque hue of regular paraffin wax.
Also, essential oils are amazing with gel wax and a person is often left with a candle that is richly scented and perfect in every sense of the word.
Of course, that isn’t all that makes gel candles beautiful. It is also the ease that you can create candles with gel wax. Just browse through our many how-to’s and recipes and you will see that gel can be used for a multitude of craft ideas and each one comes out looking spectacular.
So now that I have praised gel wax, maybe a little too much, let’s take a stroll through another fairy tale, where candle light flickers along the night time garden path that leads to beauty.
Nov 07 2008
When I was a little girl, my mother loved to can. It was almost insane when every summer; we would head out to various farms and orchards to purchase large quantities of vegetables and fruit. Then we would haul everything back to the house, peel, cut and prepare all the fruit for the canning jars [...]
Nov 07 2008
Candles are always appropriate, regardless of the occasion. Today, more and more people are always looking for a unique candle for an occasion, whether it is a birthday, a wedding or a simple spa day. There is a love for candles that sends many of us out purchasing candles on an almost constant basis.
But what [...]
When I was a little girl, my mother loved to can. It was almost insane when every summer; we would head out to various farms and orchards to purchase large quantities of vegetables and fruit. Then we would haul everything back to the house, peel, cut and prepare all the fruit for the canning jars [...]
Candles are always appropriate, regardless of the occasion. Today, more and more people are always looking for a unique candle for an occasion, whether it is a birthday, a wedding or a simple spa day. There is a love for candles that sends many of us out purchasing candles on an almost constant basis.
But what [...]