Red Candles: How to dye candles

Making your own candles is already a fun and exciting accomplishment to start, but how can you take it to the next level? Plain white candles can be often boring and dull, but adding color to your candles can spice things up, especially for the holiday season of Christmas. A color that stands out during the Christmas season is the color red. Red reminds us of the many icons we think of during Christmas which include, Red Stockings, candy canes, and of course Santa Claus!

THE PROCESS OF ADDING COLOR TO RED CANDLES

The idea of adding color to your candles may seem like a difficult task, but this process can be completed within a few easy steps. First, you must melt the wax you are using to make the candles, make sure it is completely melted before proceeding. Next, add the colorants of the specific color you are looking to make, in this case, we would be using red. Finally, pour the wax into your mold, and you’ll have yourself a beautiful colored candle!

THE BEST COLORANT TO USE

The best colorant to use in order to make your candles red would be candle dye. There are three dyes in particular that are used for coloring wax, they include, liquid candle dye, dye blocks, and food coloring. It would be your personal preference based on which colorant gives you the best look for your candle, but all three work great with wax.

HOW MUCH COLORANT SHOULD BE ADDED

If you are using liquid dye, about 1 ounce of dye should be enough color for 125 lbs. of wax. So it is safe to say that one drop should do the trick for coloring your wax red. If you are using dye blocks or dye chips, it is recommended to shave off a couple of flakes in order to have a lighter shade of red, or if you are looking for a darker shade, you may add half a block or the whole dye block to receive a darker shade of red.

WHEN SHOULD YOU ADD COLORANT TO YOUR WAX

Depending on which colorant you will be using to color your wax, you would have to add them based on the temperature. For dye blocks, the recommended temperature at which you should be adding them is 185 F. For liquid dye, you may add one drop during the melting point in order to see the best results. We always recommend testing the results first in order to know how much should be added and at what temperature point the colorant should be added in order to best fit the candle you envisioned making.

CAN FRAGRANCE BE USED WITH COLORED WAX

Now that you have made your very own red-colored candles, it may feel like something more could be added to make them even more special. Adding some fragrance oil could help elevate the creativity of your candle. It is recommended to add the fragrance oil to the melted wax before adding the colorant to your mixture. Depending on the wax, we would recommend adding 1 ounce per pound of wax to get the best results.

DO THESE STEPS APPLY TO ALL COLORS

These steps go beyond more than just red holiday candles; it applies to whatever colors your imagination is set on. You can create multi-color candles that represent a multitude of holidays. You can create a blue and pink candle to represent the new baby at a gender reveal party, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination and creativity. So go on and create some beautiful Christmas-themed candles, or create whatever your imagination envisioned.