Candle Making Information Guide

Before gas and electricity, the naked flame as a light source was essential if life was to continue after sunset. Evidence of the use of candles has been found on prehistoric paintings on cave walls and in Egyptian tombs, and although there have been some changes; there is no essential difference between a candle made in the remotest past and one made today. Tallow and vegetable or insect waxes were the original fuels. Tallow candles gave off grease\ smoke and an unpleasant smell, but they were reliable and cheap. The historian Pliny tells of candles in the first century AD being made of pitch with flax wicks, or molten wax into which a rush was dipped, and wax allowed to harden. It is recorded that Romans used candles of both tallow and wax. especially beeswax These simple materials were used until a wider range of suitable fuels became available in the nineteenth century Stearin originally produced from animal fat, was developed in the 1820 s Harder than tallow at room temperature, it produced no unpleasant odour and longer-lasting candles.

 Recently, the discovery of petroleum oil and improved refining methods has made the production of large quantities of paraffin wax possible and today, paraffin wax usually mixed with stearin, is predominantly used in candle making.

 Today, we still employ the simple techniques used by our ancestors, but we are able to elaborate on these by using all the different colors, perfumes and tools that are now available to us. This book shows you how to make a variety of simple molded, twisted, carved and decorated candles. Once you have mastered the basic techniques you will be able to create beautiful candles to suit any mood or occasion