candle making

I doubt there is a prepper out there who does not have candles in their stockroom. They are simple, effective, and last forever. Candles will certainly have great barter potential as well. I have long ago decided I will never pay retail on another candle. There are just to many ways to attain...

This year I tried making candles and coloring them with cheapo Chinese crayons. The crayon didn't even melt. Crayola used to work 20 years ago. Does crayola work for coloring paraffin/wax candles? What else can I do short of buying expensive colorant for candles?

I'm experimenting with different formulas to make long burning candles. Plain paraffin wax simply burns too fast. So I'm adding 30% stearic acid (get it on Ebay) and it seems to be working pretty well. Stearic acid (stearin) causes the candle to burn more slowly and last longer.

A week or two ago I posted requests for ideas for uses with old baby food jars. Thanksgiving weekend my daughter and I made candles with the baby food jars. We put the wax into a mason jar and boiled the water in the pot until the wax melted. We purchased three pounds of wax from Hobby...

I was thinking about making some of my own candles. I have never done this except when i was a kid @ camp at age 10,,, any how.. how much makes what? how many quart sized jars will a pound of wax make? what is a good burn rate? what is the best wick? thanks.

Ok I came up with this idea last night. I was looking at my wifes old candles that were burned out with no more wick and i got cheap. I decided to melt the candles back down and reuse the wax. The only problem is I am cheap and didn't want to buy wicks. Ok enter phase 2 of my thought...

I'm sure many know how to do this but for them that don't here are two SHTF candle's I just made, the small one has been burning a good hour now and the large one around 40 mins. You will need jar or tin, I used cotton wool wrapped around barb q sticks, cocktail stick would work, I used...

What candles are best to have for maximum light . Or how can a person make homemade candles for maximum brightness for indoor light in disasters. what makes a candle brighter than another anyway? is the wick thicker or longer ?