Craft Gossip

The largest independent craft review site since 2007

Which wax is best?

by

It depends on what you’re using it for. If you want to make rolled candles, beeswax is best because it’s more malleable than paraffin. Spiral candles are fun and easy to make. You just warm a beeswax sheet a little until it softens and then cut the sheet into a triangle, place the wick along the edge and roll. Beeswax generally requires a thicker wick than those used with paraffin.

Paraffin is an inexpensive wax and easy to work with. You can purchase it in slabs, beads or pellets.

Soybean wax is gaining in popularity because it’s less sooty and safer for animals and children. It also burns longer than paraffin and is easier to clean up. There is a blend called Para-Soy wax which is a 70/30 blend of soy and paraffin.

Candle gel is very pretty and because it is translucent you can display decorative objects inside of your candle. It also burns slower than paraffin. Candle gel is mineral oil made into a gel with the addition of a polymer similar to vybar which is a common additive for candles.

Bayberry is an expensive type of wax that comes from bayberries. It’s a hard wax with a strong smell that burns well.

Howtmakecandles.info goes into the various types of wax in greater detail. They also have a lot of interesting historical trivia such as the fact that William Proctor was a candle maker and James Gamble was a soap maker.

What’s your favorite wax? I haven’t tried them all and surely have missed one.

Read These Next

Have you read?

Reflecting on the Past Year with Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

  • Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
  • NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
  • Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
  • The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]