Which candle dye to use, and how much to add

Use a dye sold for candles, add it to fully melted wax at its maker's rate, and weigh it so you can repeat the color. Liquid dyes and dye blocks dissolve in wax; pigments, micas and crayons do not dissolve in the same way and can collect on the wick. Dose from the maker's instructions: CandleScience gives 1 dye block per 2 lb of soy wax or per 4 lb of paraffin, and Voyageur gives 6 to 8 drops of its liquid dye per pound for a medium shade. Light and heat fade dye, and dye changes how a wick burns, so a new color means a new burn test. Below: the forms, the rates and the method.

The forms of candle color

Supply changes. CandleScience discontinued several dye block and dye chip colors in late 2025, with each product page recommending a liquid candle dye as the replacement (for example, yellow dye blocks "As of 11/12/2025," lavender dye chips "As of 10/16/2025") [2][3]. If a color you rely on goes out of stock, the replacement is a new dye and needs a new color match and burn test.

How much dye: the published rates

These are the makers' and sellers' own figures for their own products. They are starting points for color, and each source recommends testing.

The tutorial's half block in a pound matches the block rate for soy: one block for two pounds is half a block per pound.

None of these sources gives a maximum. More dye gives a deeper color up to a point and adds more material for the wick to burn, so increase in small steps and retest the wick if you go much darker than the published rate (see the last section).

Measure by weight

Voyageur advises measuring liquid dye by weight "for accuracy and consistency, especially in larger batches" [1]. A drop from one bottle is not the same size as a drop from another, or from the same bottle when it is nearly empty. Once you have a color you like in a test batch, weigh the dye that made it, on a scale that reads to 0.1 g, and work out grams of dye per kilogram of wax. That number scales; drops do not. Weighing wax and fragrance covers small-amount weighing.

Why pigments, micas and crayons are a problem in a burning candle

A wick works by drawing liquid wax up into the flame. Whatever is dissolved in the wax goes up with it and burns. Particles that are suspended in the wax rather than dissolved can travel to the wick too and stay there, building up where the wax is drawn in. That is the usual explanation for the clogging makers report, and NI Candle Supplies notes that even candle "dyes also affect burn characteristics; some can clog wicks, causing uneven flames" [6].

None of the sources cited here gives a candle rate for pigments, micas or crayons. CandleScience sells its micas under soap colorants, not candle dyes, and labels its dye blocks "Candles and Wax Melts Only" [2]. Crayons are made to color paper, and a crayon maker publishes no burn data for them in candles. Keep these materials out of the wax of a container candle. Their use on the outside of molded candles, for decoration that does not reach the melt pool, is a separate case covered with secondary ignition, since anything that can catch fire besides the wick belongs on that page.

Adding dye, step by step

1. Melt the wax fully to the temperature on your wax's data sheet. Melting candle wax gives the figures for named waxes.
2. Add the weighed dye to the melted wax. The GW 464 instructions say to heat the wax to 185°F, add the dye and mix until dissolved [7]. CandleScience's tutorial adds its half block once the wax is fully melted and stirs until it is completely mixed in [4].
3. Stir until no streaks or specks remain. Lift a little wax on a spoon or drip it onto white paper to check that it is fully dissolved and to preview the color. Liquid wax usually looks darker than the set candle will.
4. Add fragrance at the addition temperature for your wax, as set out on when and how to add fragrance.
5. Record the dye, its lot, the amount by weight and the wax lot in the batch record, so the color can be matched.

Two heat instructions that pull against each other

Voyageur's liquid dye page says to keep the working temperature below 180°F (85°C) and warns that "Working at higher temperatures or prolonged exposure to heat can degrade the colours" [1]. The GW 464 instructions on the same seller's site say to add dye at 185°F [7]. The two instructions are for different products. One way to respect both is to add the dye as the wax reaches the wax maker's temperature, mix it in and move straight on to fragrance and pouring without holding the dyed wax hot. If your dye maker sets a temperature limit, take it seriously: it is the maker's statement about its dye, and fading from heat shows up only after the candle has set.

Fading and color change after pouring

Two causes are named by sources:

• Light. Voyageur recommends a UV inhibitor "for all colour applications" [1]. No dye or additive maker cited here publishes a UV inhibitor rate, so if you add one, use the rate its own maker gives. Storing candles away from sunlight, as the GW 464 instructions advise for the wax itself [7], is the simple protection. Storing wax, fragrance and finished candles covers shelf conditions.
• The fragrance. Some oils change the color of the wax over time. Vanillin, a compound in many vanilla scents, can turn wax yellow to brown as it oxidizes in air and light, according to SA Candle Supply [8]. A pale dye with a high-vanillin oil will drift. Choosing and testing fragrance oils covers oil effects.

Check color on test candles over several weeks under normal room light, not only on pour day.

A new color is a new burn test

Wick recommendations assume no dye. CandleScience says its wick recommendations "are based on a 7.5% fragrance oil load and no dyes," and that dyed or heavily fragranced candles may need a larger wick than its chart suggests [9]. Supplies for Candles says different waxes, fragrances and dyes can change how a wick performs [10]. So when you add dye to a candle you have already tested undyed, or change a color by a large step, burn test again with the same wick before you sell it. If the flame shrinks or the wick mushrooms, the dye is a suspect along with the oil. Wick mushrooming and carbon heads covers what the wick is telling you, and what has to be retested when you change something lists dye with the other changes that call for a new test.

Before you dye a tested candle

If you are about to dye a candle you have already tested, read what has to be retested when you change something first, so you know how much testing the color change adds.

References

1. Voyageur Soap & Candle, Liquid Candle Dye: Wedgewood (product page with usage instructions), read October 22, 2026. https://www.voyageursoapandcandle.com/products/liquid-candle-dye-wedgewood
2. CandleScience, Yellow Dye Blocks (product page, discontinued as of November 12, 2025), read October 22, 2026. https://www.candlescience.com/color/yellow-dye-blocks/
3. CandleScience, Lavender Dye Chips (product page, discontinued as of October 16, 2025), read October 22, 2026. https://www.candlescience.com/color/lavender-dye-chips
4. CandleScience, How to Make a Soy Candle, updated October 27, 2025. https://www.candlescience.com/learning/how-to-make-a-soy-candle
5. CandleScience, Lab Notes: CandleScience Coconut Apricot Wax, undated (images dated April 2024), read October 22, 2026. https://candlescience.com/lab-notes-candlescience-coconut-apricot-wax
6. NI Candle Supplies, The Only Candle Wick Guide You'll Ever Need, published June 24, 2025, updated September 17, 2026. https://www.nicandlesupplies.com/blogs/how-to-guides/the-only-candle-wick-guide-youll-ever-need
7. Voyageur Soap & Candle, Golden Brands GW 464 Soy Container Candle Wax (product page with manufacturer's instructions), undated, read October 22, 2026. https://www.voyageursoapandcandle.com/Golden_Brands_464_Soy_Wax_p/20264.htm
8. SA Candle Supply, How Vanilla Affects Wax, undated, read October 22, 2026. https://sacandlesupply.co.za/articles/candle-making/how-vanilla-affects-wax/
9. CandleScience, Candle Wick (category page with wick guide notes), undated, read October 22, 2026. https://www.candlescience.com/candle-wick
10. Supplies for Candles, Candle Wicks (category page with wick notes), undated, read October 22, 2026. https://suppliesforcandles.co.uk/product-category/candle-wicks