How to make wax melts from home

 

Welcome to ‘How to make wax melts from home’ with Tamar from Craft HQ. Today I’m going to show and talk you through the process of making wax melts in your kitchen at home.

The equipment and processes I show you today are all tried and tested and easy for you to follow at home.

Safety first

Before you make a start with any of your wax or fragrance oil it’s important to ensure you are safe.

Wearing appropriate PPE is important when working with chemicals such as fragrance oils.

Always ensure you are in a well ventilated area, wear an apron and disposable gloves.

If you are unable to ventilate the area, invest in a respiratory mask to protect yourself from exposure to harmful fumes at a concentrated level.

See our blog post all about PPE here.

Top Tip: have a set of clothes specifically to wear when making your wax melts.

Equipment you’ll need

A lot of the equipment you will need to start your wax melt making journey can often be found in your kitchen. Have a look in your cupboards, you'll surprise yourself.

You’ll likely already have items to hand such as scales, jugs, bowls, spoons and a stove.

Ensure you gather all of your equipment before you start making your wax melts as it’s easier than having to stop and find items half way through. 

The items used in this video are: 

• PPE
• Stove 
• Double Boiler
• Scales
• Bowl 
• Craft HQ fragrance oil
• Thermometer 
• Jug x2
• Spoon 
• Wax 
• Kitchen roll 
• Silicone moulds 
• Clamshells 

Top Tip: once you have used your bowls and spoons for wax melt making keep them for future makes and invest in some more for the kitchen

Research is important

Before you start it’s imperative that you do your research. The first thing to research is your wax.

There are hundreds of types of wax, with the most commonly spoken about being soy wax and paraffin wax.

Each wax will perform uniquely, will react differently to varying temperatures and can hold a differing amount of fragrance oil. 

We suggest getting small samples of various types of wax and testing them all. This way you can find the wax that works for you. 

Top Tip: record your findings and research in one, easy to reach place to refer back to at a later date

Learning measurements

When measuring your wax and fragrance oil it’s important to understand percentages. The first thing to think about is what percentage of fragrance oil do you want your wax melts to contain?

We would recommend testing multiple percentages of fragrance oil before you decide on your finished product and its recipe.

At the start of your journey try testing a small number of wax melts with 10% fragrance load, 9% and 8%. When you test them, ensure to write as much detail down about your findings so you can refer back to them at a later date.

In this video we made our wax melts at 10% fragrance load. To determine the amount of fragrance oil needed we have to think about the following:

A scent load of 10% means that 10% of your finished product is fragrance oil. So, to make 500g of wax, we used 50g of oil to 450g of wax.

Top Tip: to ensure you are always working with the correct percentages you can use a free online percentage calculator such as this one from Google. These can be valuable resources

How to melt your wax

There are many different options when it comes to melting your wax. The method we used for melting our wax is called the double boiler method.

Another form of the double boiler method is the traditional way with a glass dish over a saucepan of boiling water.

The double boiler used in this video has the water already boiling away within the casing.

In this video we ensure to not overheat and boil our wax. We heat the wax steadily at a medium heat, and stir regularly.

Boiling the wax too high can compromise it. Ensure you check the temperatures of the wax you are using in advance.

Top Tip: although you can use the microwave for melting your wax we advise the double boiler method as you can control the temperature better

Temperatures are key

Temperatures are very important when working with wax. Not only for melting but also for when to add the fragrance oil.

By the time you’re ready to make your first set of wax melts you’ll have a basic understanding of your chosen wax, and the temperatures recommended.

It’s important to not add your fragrance oil too early or too late for different reasons:

• Too early and the wax will be too cool to correctly bind with the fragrance oil, due to the molecular particles closing ready to form into a solid matter 

• Too late and the wax will be too hot and you risk the fragrance burning off before it has a time to correctly incorporate with the wax, resulting in poorly scented wax melts

This is where your research will come in handy, and you’ll be able to use that knowledge to base your recipe on.

Top Tip: always ensure you have 2 thermometers handy at all times. You never know when one will give up the ghost! Using a faulty or no thermometer will result in poor and inconsistent products

Mixing is a vital step

Mixing your fragrance oil into your wax is a highly important part of the process. A quick swish with a spoon and away you go won’t cut it here.

As a standard rule of thumb mixing for a minimum of 2 - 3 minutes will give you a quality scent throw.

Top Tip: try mixing with your spoon in one direction for a set count then doing the same in the other direction. This will give you an accurate mix time each and every time you make your wax melts.

Pouring your wax

Now you have your molten wax and fragrance oil combined, it's the fun part. Time to pour into your clamshells and silicon moulds.

There are different methods for pouring and we’ll show you two of them:

• Jug

Pouring by hand with a jug can be quick and mess free, especially if you are pouring small amounts at a time into a larger surface area such as the clamshells 

• Piston funnel 

Using a piston funnel can increase your productivity and be easier to manage when pouring into small silicone moulds 

Top Tip: using a piston funnel can increase your bottom line as you’ll have less spillages due to the controlled pour

Cleaning up

Once you have poured your wax melts and they are setting you have time to clean up and tidy your kitchen.

Use a heat gun to melt the wax residue from your jugs, and wipe clean with a kitchen towel. This is an effective way to ensure your equipment is clean and no wax goes into the drainage and plumbing systems. 

Top Tip: get yourself a heat gun for cleaning

Finished products

Once your scented wax melts are solid it’s time to pop them out of their moulds.

Give a gentle tug at the sides to stretch the mould, then turn it over and pop the wax melts out. Depending on the wax you use they may just fall straight out (pillar wax) or the wax may need a gentle push.

Your clamshells can be closed to seal in the unique fragrance.

From your earlier research you’ll have found the curing time for your wax. This means how long to leave the wax before using it, to give the fragrance oil the best chance to combine with the wax.

It’s important not to skip this step as you want to ensure a superior product each time.

Top Tip: once you have demoulded your wax melts pre package them in their retail packaging and allow them to cure

You did it!

Congratulations, you’ve just made your first batch of wax melts from home. We hope this video and blog post has been helpful on the start of your journey.

Look out for more useful tips and tricks on our social media pages and in future videos and blog posts.

Good luck and enjoy the next steps of your wax melt making journey.