Two Tips for Candle-Makers Who Want to Experiment With Colour

If up until now all of your homemade candles have been plain white or cream and you'd like to start incorporating colours into the candles you make, you might find these tips useful.

If you're on a budget, look for a candle-making supply business that sells candle dyes in primary colours

If you have a small budget with which to purchase candle-making supplies, then it might be sensible to look for candle dyes in primary colours (i.e. blue, red and yellow). The reason for this is as follows: with these three candle dyes, you'll be able to make a wide range of colours by mixing them with one another. For example, if you mix red and blue dyes, you'll get a purple colour, whilst if you mix yellow and blue, you'll get a green-toned dye.

You can also create lighter and darker versions of the colours you make by mixing these dyes, simply by varying the amount of plain white wax you use in some mixtures; more white wax in your red-and-blue mixtures will produce paler purples, like lilac or lavender, whilst less white wax will produce deeper purples, like aubergine.

This is a budget-friendly way to explore the use of dyes in your candle-making projects and will also ensure that the storage area in which you keep your supplies for this hobby doesn't end up stuffed with dozens of different packets of dyes.

Try choosing colours based on the candle fragrances you already have

You could also try to purchase dye colours that correspond to the candle fragrances you already have in your collection. This could be a good way to ensure that the purchasing of these dyes allows you to utilise the other candle-making supplies you already own. For example, if you have some peppermint fragrance oil, you might want to get red and green candle dyes so that you can make a peppermint-scented candle that has a festive colour combination and that would serve as a lovely form of Christmas decor.

Similarly, if you want to make a Halloween candle and you already have some pumpkin spice fragrance oil, you could buy candle dyes in orange and black to make a deliciously spooky candle. Finally, if you have a stack of unused tropical scents (like guava, mango and coconut) you could create a summer candle that reminds you of tropical beaches by using blue, gold and green dyes alongside these fragrances.

Visit a craft store to get the candle making supplies you need.