Candle Making Supplies for Beginners: What to Buy First and What to Skip

You need surprisingly few things to make a good soy candle, but each one has to be the right thing. The wrong wax, a wick off a random spool, or a wax-melt oil instead of a candle fragrance oil, and even perfect technique will not save the batch. Here is the list, with what to actually choose.

Soy wax: which one to buy

Soy wax comes in two main types, and mixing them up is the most common buying mistake. Container wax is soft, adheres well to glass, and melts at a low temperature. Pillar wax is harder, shrinks as it cools, and releases from molds. Pillar wax in a jar pulls away from the walls; container wax in a mold will never come out.

Wicks

Buy only wicks made for candles, pre-tabbed and ideally pre-waxed. For soy wax the ECO, CD (Stabilo), and HTP series work reliably; LX and plain braided wicks without a core more often drown in soy. Size depends on container diameter and fragrance load: the chart is in our candle wick size chart. To start, buy 10-20 each of two adjacent sizes so you can compare.

Fragrance oils

They must be fragrance oils made for candles, with a stated maximum load (usually 10-12%) and flash point. Wax-melt, soap, and cosmetic oils are not guaranteed to bind with wax and can be unsafe near a flame. Essential oils work but give a much weaker hot throw. More in how to scent soy candles and in our list of the best soy candle scents.

Containers

• Thick-walled glass jars: canning jars, straight-sided candle jars, apothecary jars. Proven and cheap.
• Glazed ceramic: holds heat well, but check that it does not wick wax through the glaze.
• Metal tins: heat up fast, good for travel candles.
• Not: thin decorative glass, wine glasses, anything with glued parts, or wood without a liner.

Equipment

• Kitchen scale accurate to 1 g / 0.05 oz (a jeweler's scale accurate to 0.1 g is nice for fragrance).
• Probe thermometer reading to at least 250°F. Infrared thermometers read only the surface and under-report.
• Pouring pitcher, stainless, 1-2 quarts, with a spout.
• Saucepan for the double boiler, big enough for the pitcher to sit loosely.
• Wick centering tools: wooden, metal, or plain clothespins.
• Wick trimmer or sharp scissors.
• Heat gun: not essential, but fixes an uneven top in a minute.
• Paper towels and parchment paper for the counter. Soy wax washes off with hot soapy water, but better not to need to.

What a starter kit costs

What not to buy at the start

• A bundle of 10 fragrance oils in tiny bottles. You will not get through testing them, and small bottles are expensive per ounce.
• Beeswax and coconut wax for your first batches. They behave differently from soy; learn one material first.
• Wood wicks without experience. They look great but are far harder to size than cotton.
• Silicone molds before you have container candles down. That is a separate topic, covered in our guide to candle molds for soy wax.
• An electric wax melter on day one. A saucepan and pitcher do the same job for a fraction of the price.

Once you have the kit, move on to the step-by-step soy candle guide and work out your materials with the soy wax calculator.