Building the Perfect Soy or Natural Wax Pillar

Building the Perfect Soy or Natural Wax Pillar


 
I am in the process of testing soy waxes for pillar candles. Years ago I made soy pillars using our votive soy blended with some beeswax.  I produced incredible beautiful candles.  The only problem was that one out of 4 would crack in half.  I tried varying the amount of beeswax to soy ratio, pour temps, adding different natural additives, cooling temps, etc, all with no luck.

There are so many new waxes on the market but very few natural waxes made for pillars.  And none with the aesthetics or scent throw that I need.  So I am back to experimenting. 
Soy wax pillar candles ready for test burning
The candle on the left and right were both made with my Candle Cocoon votive blend (no beeswax) .  They would not come out of the molds so I had to freeze them.  After just a few minutes the candles cracked.  And while it may look kinda cool these are not usually superficial cracks and will continue to crack until the candles break in half.  The pillar in the middle is a new natural wax that I have found that is said to even be able to mottle.  As you can see there is a slight mottling effect and it did come out of the mold beautifully!!!  I don't like the feel of the new wax.  It is pretty slimy and the more you touch it the more it feels like it is melting on your fingers.  It didn't melt but it feels like it is melting.  My wax feels so good!  Just wish I could get it to stop cracking!

Now I just need to wait for a few days to cure and see about scent throw.  I used our Lovely Lilac at .8oz per pound of wax.

Not good news.  None of the candles burned well. 
I had high hopes.  They all started off looking good after about 3 hours of burn time.

Starting to look a little wonky.  2 day burn.

Day 4.  Table art :(  We could possibly wick down a little but I fear the walls would still blow out.

These were not our first soy pillars.  We have created dozens and all end up blowing out.  Which leads me to wonder if the "soy pillars" on the market are all actually soy.  You can call it a soy pillar if it is only 51% soy.  Paraffin makes it so pillars don't blow out the sides.  So often folks will mix the waxes.  

11/11/19 - Years later - We have still been testing.  We actually had a recipe that was looking good using EcoSoya Pillar but the company just went out of business.  I can't even believe it.  So, back to the drawing board.

If you want to make natural pillars you may want to use Palm Wax or Palm Stearic Acid.  The candles turn out hard as a rock with stearic acid and they can still blow out the sides and you may have an issue scenting them with most scents because the stearic acid doesn't hold that much scent and it also stifles the scent throw.  But they can work without turning into a huge puddle.

We have Palm Stearic Acid if you need it and want to give it a try.  We suggest using CDN wicks as they are specifically make for stearic acid candles.


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