Soy Candles

Ylang-ylang is a tropical tree.   Its flowers, when processed by steam distillation, produce an essential oil used in aromatherapy and in making perfumes.  It has a heavy, sweet scent similar to jasmine.  It is often associated with weddings and honeymoons.  The essential oil comes in four grades: ylang extra, ylang I, ylang II and ylang III.  The variance in grades is based on when the oil is removed in the steam distillation process.  The process can take 24 hours and the lengthier it is the lighter the scent of the oil.  Ylang extra has the strongest scent and ylang III has the weakest scent.  All grades have a heavy scent, so be sure to add carefully to any blend you are making.  It can easily overpower other scents.  You can use ylang-ylang essential oil in recipes that call for jasmine.  Jasmine is more costly and many budgets can’t afford it. 

Ylang-ylang fragrance is considered an aphrodisiac.  It is also used in aromatherapy and is considered to have stress relieving properties.  Try a few drops in a hot bath to melt the cares of the day away.  It is believed to reduce anxiety and even relieve depression.  In people sensitive to heavy floral scents the aroma of ylang-ylang can be overpowering and may cause headaches.

If you don’t have time for that hot bath to unwind the day with, try instead a scented soy candle with the fragrance of ylang-ylang.  You can find this fragrance in the soy scents of Ylang-Ylang, Enchanted Journey and Sensual Moments.  A gourmet body massage soy candle with this fragrance is great for that romantic honeymoon getaway.

Have you ever had a birthday cake and when you blew out the candles they reignited?  You had trick candles on your cake.  I have used them before for a joke but not everyone would appreciate them.  You have to pick your intended victims carefully.  Trick candles can be frightening and upsetting.  Be sure that the recipient will receive your joke in good humor before using them.   Trick candles come in various sizes, shapes and colors.  They are usually used on birthday cakes but could be used whenever a candle is required to be blown out.  However use them with caution as they could start a fire. 

A regular candle has a small ember that continues to burn in the wick when blown out for a moment.  A plume of smoke rises from it when blown out.  The smoke is caused by the ignition of paraffin vapors rising from the candle as the ember dies out.  The heat of the ember won’t relight the wick as it is not hot enough, as paraffin requires a higher temperature to burn.

The wick of a trick candle is impregnated with a substance what will burn at a lower temperature, causing it to reignite.  A popular choice is magnesium which ignites when the candle is blown out, causing the candle wick to begin burning again.  Sparks are often thrown off in this process, making them a potential fire hazard.  To put out a trick candle for good and not reignite simply snuff it out and keep it snuffed for a few moments.  This will cut off the oxygen supply to it.  You can also dunk it into a glass of water, thus cutting off the oxygen supply as well.

There is no trick to soy candles.  They come in various sizes, shapes, colors and fragrances.  They are easy to clean up with soap and water, making the container reusable.  They burn at a lower temperature than paraffin making burns less likely.  They are made from a renewable resource the soybean and using soy candles promotes the farming industry.  Soy candles are non-toxic, burn with little to no soot and are Eco-friendly.  You don’t have to worry that the intended recipient will be offended either.  Scented soy candles make the perfect gift for the person hard to buy for.   

Tallow is made from rendered fat from animals.  Beef is the primary source of tallow.  A vegetarian version is available, made from the tallow tree, but its composition is slightly different.  With the many uses of tallow, it is a product in consistent demand. 

Tallow begins with the process of extraction of suet from a carcass.  Suet is hard fat found around the kidneys and other organs.  Suet can be used as it is but the shelf life is very short and it will turn rancid.  Suet contains many impurities.  Rendering the suet produces tallow.  Tallow can be kept for an extended period of time if kept in an airtight container in a cool place. 

Tallow can also be rendered from pigs, horses and sheep.  Tallow is high in monounsaturated fatty acids, has lesser amounts of saturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids.  Due to the composition of fats in tallow it is solid and at room temperature is odorless and tasteless. 

Uses of tallow: fuel, treatment for leather, base for soaps, base for candles, in lubricants and cooking oils.  It can be turned into bio-fuel, used as a food supplement for animals, and is used in leather dressings and waterproofing compounds designed for leather. 

Making tallow at home is possible but messy and smelly.  It is made by cooking diced fat in water, cooling it, straining it to remove impurities, skimming off the top layer of fat which accumulates after a night of chilling.  It is also possible to purchase plain tallow, removing the mess and smell.

Tallow used as a base for candles was used in our past history.  Now as new products have made it easier to make candles, tallow is not used as much.  Soy wax is a relatively new base for making candles.  It is made from the soybean grown in the United States and other countries that produce soybeans.  It is a renewable resource and helps promote the American farm industry.  It is also easy to clean up with just soap and water.  Soy wax can be dyed and scented producing many soy candle fragrances.  Scented soy candles made from only soy wax  are non-toxic, produce little to no soot  and burn 50% longer than paraffin candles.  You can also make and purchase unscented soy candles.

Simply put, votive candle holders are designed to hold votive candles.  The holders come in an array of  sizes and shapes.  The material used to make them can be from metal, wood, stone, glass, or ceramic.  You can find them in home supply stores, from companies who deal in candles and lighting, or even make them yourself. 

A votive candle is a small round pillar candle of standard size, usually 2 inches high by one and a half inches.  They can come in other sizes and shapes also.  A votive candle is used in religious services in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.  They can be made from paraffin, beeswax, soy wax or other waxes.

Candle holders made to hold votives are designed to allow the candle to burn freely without guttering in the wind.  A classic holder is tall and cylindrical with a closed bottom, is made from glass that is clear or colored.  Since the flame is contained in the tall glass holder, making it relatively safe, you can use votives in a large display for parties.  Since a single votive doesn’t give off much light, used in large numbers you will have a nice lighting effect.  A votive candle holder can also be found shaped like a lamp, a candlestick, a candle tray, and a candelabra.  Many holders are versatile and can also hold tea-lights, and taller pillar candles.

For a truly economical and environmentally safe votive candle, try one made of natural soy wax.  Scented soy votive candles are non-toxic and clean up with just soap and water.  They produce little to no soot and burn 50% longer than paraffin wax candles.

Those nubs of left over candle wax in the bottom of the jar are excellent for fire starters.  Simply melt the nubs of candle wax and reuse them.  A great idea is to coat a pine cone with the melted wax by dipping the pine cone into it.  Let it dry and now you have a wonderful fire starter for the fireplace or bonfire outside.  If your nubs were scented, you have a wonderful aroma filling your home as well.

Another use is to take a cardboard egg carton and fill the spaces with dryer lint.  Melt the nubs and pour the wax over the lint in each space.  Let the candle wax harden.  Then cut the egg carton spaces into sections, you will have 12 of them, and use one to start your fire.  Once again if your wax was scented it will give off a pleasing aroma. 

Remember using scented soy wax candles makes good sense.  They are environmentally friendly, non-toxic, produce little to no soot, burn 50% longer than paraffin, come in many fragrances and clean up with just soap and water.  Be sure your nubs are soy wax.

Frankincense is used to make incense and perfumes.  It is actually a dried tree sap or aromatic resin.  It has been associated with the story of the birth of baby Jesus as one of the gifts the wise-men brought.  It comes from trees of the “Boswellia” genus, one of which is the  deciduous tree “Boswellia Thurifera”.  These trees can be found in Somalia, Oman and Yemen.  They are known for their ability to grow in unfavorable environments, such as seemingly to grow out of solid rock.  A disk-like growth at the base of the tree somehow attaches itself to the rock, that prevents it from being torn away during the frequent violent storms in these areas.  Trees that are grown in gravel or rocky soil don’t exhibit this bulbous disk-like growth in such extreme. 

The aromatic resin or tree sap is diverse within this species of trees depending on the soil and climate it is grown in and the species of frankincense tree.  Frankincense is tapped by scraping or cutting the bark and allowing the sap to ooze or bleed out and harden.  The sap is then collected and now is called tears.  This process is done 2 -3 times per year.  Younger trees produce a higher quality resin and if opaque is of superior quality.  Resin value is determined by fragrance, color and clump size.  The lighter and larger clumps are more valuable. 

Frankincense was used in the ancient world to make incense, to perfume the homes of the ancient Greeks and Romans.  It was used in religious rituals of the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians, later in Jewish rites and even later in Catholic rites.  It was also know for its medicinal purposes in history: the first antidote for hemlock poisoning; cure for vomiting, diarrhea, fever and tumors; and today in China to treat leprosy and gonorrhea; in Asia used in medicine to treat digestion and for healthy skin.  Frankincense is edible.  It is chewed like gum but must be pure, no black or brown impurities.  It must be translucent, a light yellow with a slight greenish tint.

Frankincense is used today in perfumery and aromatherapy.  It can be mixed with spices or seeds to create its desired aroma.  The chunks of raw resin can also be placed directly on a heat source to create an incense quality aroma that repels mosquitoes.  The essential oil “Olibanum” is obtained through steam distillation of the dry resin.  Perfumes may contain this essential oil that evaporates slowly, thus maintaining its fragrance.  The essential oil is also used in aromatherapy and is known for its stress-reducing properties.  It has a fresh sweet fragrance that is characterized by a balsamic-spicy, slightly lemon, slight conifer-like undertone.

For a simple way to enjoy the scent of Frankincense try scented soy candles.  You can find this aroma in the scent of “Oh Holy Night”.  This fragrance comes in a variety of styles and sizes of gourmet scented soy candles, soy container candles, soy jar candles, soy candle tins, soy votive,  gourmet soy tart melts, and fragrance oils.

Nothing’s worse than when you have a scented candle burning and intermixed with the aroma is that charcoal/burning smell coming from the flame.  It’s unpleasant, can stain your walls, and fill a small room with smoke.  The solution is a scented soy candle.  These soy candles have unique properties, and are not like your standard paraffin wax candles.  Soy candles burn cleaner than other candles because, and also radiate their scent throughout the whole room better.  You won’t ever notice that charcoal/burning smell again when you’re burning soy candles.

In addition to burning cleaner, soy candles also last longer than paraffin wax candles, sometimes up to twice as long.  It’s great to know that you’re receiving a better product for relatively the same price! 

Gone are the days when candles were just limited to paraffin wax and cotton wicks.  Now there are hundreds of different varieties of candles, and when it comes to scented candles, the options can seem endless.  Soy candles are a newer alternative to the standard paraffin wax; they’re more natural, burn cleaner, and tend to last longer.  You can also find votives, tarts, and melts in both soy and paraffin wax varieties.  These smaller candles are great for providing fragrance to a room.  There are also wood wick candles that burn more slowly, and provide that satisfying crackle just like a real fire.

Whether you’re providing your mother a gift on her birthday, setting the mood for your love interest, or just relaxing after a stressful day, these unique candle varieties are sure to please.  As with all candles, just make sure you put them out and don’t leave them unattended for long! 

Patchouli was around in the sixties.  It was a symbol of peace and love.    It was a scent used in perfume oils and incense that was used to help cover up other burning odors.  It is actually a plant, originally grown in the East Indies.  It was used in flavoring as a herb for foods and was believed to repel moths.  The Asian silk and cashmere manufacturers would sprinkle it into their packages before sending them to marketplaces, to repel the moths.  The scent had done a process of permentation on the cloth and thus gained the reputation of an exotic fragrance.  It brought to Westerners the idea of romance of far-off places.  Today, patchouli is grown in hot southern climates for commercial reasons.

The essential oil from patchouli is derived from distillation of the leaves of the plant.  It is used today in perfumery.  The fragrance is rich, woody, heady,  earthy with a blend of floral sweetness and has a musky scent that reminds you of fresh-turned soil.  It is an acquired fragrance of like, either you do adore its powerful aroma or you don’t.

Patchouli is associated with love and money.  It is known for its sensual aroma.  It is an aphrodisiac and has an up-lifting effect.  It may help with cracked skin, sores, depression, fluid retention, scalp problems and apprehension.  It is used in magi-ck for passion and love.  The herb is burned in clairvoyance and divination incenses.  You can make your own perfume oil by following these steps:

1. Add 10-15 drops of patchouli oil, some cinnamon oil and vetiver to a 15 milliliter bottle.
2. Then fill the bottle with a scentless blending oil as grape-seed or apricot kernel oil.
3. Don’t apply these essential oils directly to your skin.  Some are very strong and can burn.

Or for a light perfume spray:

1. Put handfuls of the dried herb patchouli into vodka and allow it to steep for several weeks.
2. Next strain off the alcohol from the herb.
3. You now have a patchouli tincture that you can dilute with water to make a cologne spray.
4. You can blend it with other tinctures to create your own personal aroma.

Please be sure and consult a qualified aromatherapist before using internally and avoid use during pregnancy.  Don’t apply undiluted oils on the skin.  Be extremely cautious in using oils with children.  It is always best to do a skin patch test first before using an oil you are unfamiliar with.

For the easiest way to enjoy the aroma of patchouli, try burning soy candles in your home.  No mess, no fuss.  You can find this scent in the following fragrances of scented soy candles, gourmet body massage soy candles , parfum oils and fragrance oils: Egyptian Musk, Angel, Sensual Moments and of course just plain Patchouli.

Ever have a candle that won’t burn all the way down and you have wax left in the bottom of the jar?  One reason for this happening is that the wick fell over because there was not enough wax left to support it.  Once the wick is toast the candle won’t ever be able to finish its burn.  Well don’t throw that jar and wax away.  You can reuse them.  Simply fill a pan with water and sit it on the burner to get hot.  Put your candle jar into the water and let the wax get soft.  Remove the jar from the water and then you can easily pry out the wax from the jar. 

Now you have a nub of wax and an empty jar.  If your candle was made of soy wax, your jar can easily be washed out with just soap and water and reused for many creative ideas.  The nub of candle wax if scented can be used in a candle warmer to still melt and give off a pleasing aroma.  If you don’t have a candle warmer, you can place the nub of wax in a dresser drawer to give your clothes a fresh new aroma, or in your closet to freshen it up.  You can even save those nubs and make your own candle, once you have collected enough nubs. 

Not only are soy candles a renewable resource, non-toxic, produce little to no soot, burn longer than paraffin candles, and burn at a lower temperature, now your soy candle nubs are a renewable resource as well.  Who ever thought that there was life left in the candle nubs.  Be creative and see what ideas your nubs might have.