If you have taken up the increasingly popular hobby of candle making, it won't be long until you're looking to expand your horizons by experimenting with adding fragrances to your home-made creations. We've all enjoyed the intoxicating fragrances of candles you can buy in the shops, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to add your own special scents to your own candles? You should be able to appreciate the fragrance of scented candles whether they are lit or not, but lighting a scented candle will have the effect of heating up the oils thus helping the fragrance oil to evaporate and disperse into the environment.
Fragrance can be added to your candles in various forms, but for the best results, at least initially, it's probably a good idea to stick with fragrance oils or the solid wax perfume chips that are specially produced for candle making. The manufacturers will be able to give you an initial idea of the sort of quantities required to produce a particular strength of fragrance.
Fragrances used in candle making are often very concentrated which means that you may only need to add a drop or two. It's a very common mistake, even amongst more experienced candle makers, to add too much fragrance. Adding too much of the fragrance additive may cause the wax of the finished candle to have a mottled or pitted appearance and it may even change the texture of the wax so much so, that you have trouble releasing it from the mold in the first place! As with a lot of elements of candle making, it's often a case of experimentation and learning from your mistakes. You might therefore find it useful to keep a project notebook for your candle making in which you can write up exactly what you've used for what candles and what the results have been. This will be particularly helpful to you in the future if you have been trying out a range of different wax types and also different forms of fragrance.
Essential oils used in aromatherapy are often used in scented candles in a similar way to the specialised fragrance oils. You may even receive some of the therapeutic benefits associated with the oils when burning these candles which have been made with essential oils - even if it's only a case of increased relaxation and positive mood enhancement!
Gel candles are a popular type of scented candle as the gel wax is able to carry a particularly high fragrance load. If you have decided that gel candles are the ones for you, then it's worth looking into buying fragrance oil specifically formulated for gel wax. Not only is this going to enable you to get the most strongly scented candles but some of these oils are almost colorless and will not cloud your gel if you're trying to achieve a clear translucent effect.
Finally, if you have some scented candles which seem to have lost their fragrance or you have some plain unscented candles (either ones you've bought or some you've made yourself) which you would like to add some fragrance to, there is a simple way to pep these up. All you need to do is make two or three vertical holes in the top of the candle close to the wick with a hot narrow skewer. You need to go down to a depth of about half the height of the candle. Then, simply add a few drops of fragrance oil (essential oils are good to use in this way too) into the holes. Once the candle is lit, the melted wax around the wick will fill the holes and there will be no evidence of what you've done, and the fragrance will be released as the candle burns down. The only cautionary note I would make is in respect of the candles which have a depleted scent - it's best to refresh their existing fragrance rather than try and add a completely different scent.
