How to Make Wax Chunks

Candle Making Tutorial
How to Make Wax Chunks
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Chunk candles have a special charm all their own. To make them, you need chunks. You can buy pre-cut wax chunks or you can make your own. When you make your own wax chunks, you have total control over the color, the size, and even the fragrance of your wax chunks. Making your own wax chunks easy and its fun, so get your supplies together and follow these instructions to make your own custom wax chunks!

What You Will Need - Supplies

A cookie sheet or cake pan

Molding Candle Wax

Craft Knife

Silicone Spray Mold Release (optional)

Steamer Pot or old Sauce Pan to create a double boiler

Standard Size or Small Size Melting Pot with pour spout

Wood Stir Sticks, chopsticks, or something else to stir the wax

Thermometer

Candle Fragrance (optional)

Color Dye Chips (optional)

Also a good idea to have around:

Paper towels

Windex (Window cleaner)

Aluminum Foil

Newspaper, butcher paper, or scrap paper to cover work surfaces

Fire Extinguisher (just in case)

How to Set Up Your Work Area

Put down newspaper or butcher paper on tables and countertops to catch spills and for easy cleanup.
Have paper towels and Windex on hand for cleaning stovetops.
Wrap stove burner bowls in tin foil to catch drips of wax, and for easy cleanup afterwards.

Prep your Pan

Spray the inside of your cookie sheet or cake pan with a thin coat of Silicone Spray Mold Release. To do this, either follow the directions on the can, or hold the nozzle 8 to 10 inches from your mold and release the spray in short bursts. I little goes a long way with Silicone Spray Mold Release.

Melt Your Wax

You will need either a steamer pot or deep sauce pan, and you will also need a melting pot with a pouring spout. These two items create a double boiler to melt your wax.

Fill the bottom part of your double boiler (the steamer pot or the deep sauce pan) with about two inches of cool water, and place on the burner set to high temperature.

Place pieces of 139 degree Molding Candle Wax to be melted into the melting pot with a pouring spout, set the melting pot in the water, and attend to it as the wax liquefies. (When the water begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium low or low.)

If you have a large block of wax and need instructions on how to safely break it into smaller pieces, please visit our section on How To Break Up Wax Blocks

When the wax is entirely liquid (i.e., when there are no solid chunks any longer in the pot) you have successfully melted the wax.

Our 139 degree Molding Candle Wax melts at about 139 degrees F. The wax will continue to grow hotter as it remains in the double boiler. Continue to heat the wax until it reaches 190 degrees F.

Adding Dye

After the wax is entirely melted and at about 190 degrees F, add your candle dye to create the color of wax chunks you desire. Each of our diamond shaped dye chips colors 1 lb of wax. Use more or less candle dye for lighter or darker colored candles. Drop a dye chip (or part of a dye chip) into the melted wax, and stir until the dye chip is entirely dissolved into the liquid wax.

Adding Fragrance

You can also add fragrance to your wax chunks. Adding fragrance is the last thing you do before you pour your wax into the pan to cool. This is because the potency of the fragrance can be reduced if subjected to high heat for too long.

So after the wax is entirely melted, and after you have added your candle dye, you may add your candle fragrance. The standard ratio for our candle fragrance oils is one ounce of fragrance oil per 1 lb of wax. Use more or less fragrance for lighter or heavier scented wax chunks. Add the candle fragrance to the melted wax in the melting pot, and stir thoroughly to get even distribution of the candle fragrance.

Pour the Wax

Pour the 190 degree F wax into you cookie sheet or cake pan. The depth to which you pour depends on how big you would like your wax chunks to be. For small wax chunks, pour only 12 inch. For larger chunks, pour the wax to 1 deep in the pan.

For small chunks, pour about 12 inch if wax into the pan.

For large chunks, pour about 1 of wax into the pan.

Setting Wax

Let the pan cool undisturbed until the wax is warm and pliable, but no longer runny. The time it takes your wax to cool to this state depends on the depth of the wax in the pan. Keep an eye on it, because if you wait too long, the wax will cool and harden, making the next step (cutting the wax) difficult or impossible.

When wax is soft and pliable, still warm, but no longer runny, it is ready to cut.

Cutting Wax Chunks

Using a craft knife, cut the wax in the pan into squares. Make big squares for bigger wax chunks, smaller squares for smaller wax chunks. Different sizes and shapes add interest to your candles, so feel free to get creative and experiment.

Cooling Wax Chunks

When you have finished cutting the wax in the pan to your desired size of chunks, let it sit undisturbed again, until the wax cools and hardens. When it is hard, tip the wax out of the pan. If the pieces are stuck together, you can break them apart with your hands.

When all your chunks are broken apart, let the wax cool and harden completely.

Finished Wax Chunks

Now you have finished wax chunks for use in your candles! For instructions on using your wax chunks in a pillar candle, see our instructions for making Chunk Pillar Candles.