Candle making

Making candles, and selling them in a vessel

Updated October 2026

On this page10

Getting started Wax and wick Burn testing Pouring a batch What goes wrong Vessels and lids Selling it Growing the operation Tools and directories Beyond the jar

One thing here is law and everything else is voluntary, and the voluntary part is what actually governs the business. 16 CFR 1500.17(a)(13) bans lead-cored wicks and requires a label statement; ASTM F2417, F2058 and F2179 cover fire safety, labeling and the glass a candle is poured into, and none of them is binding until a retailer, an insurer or a court reads them as the standard of care. F2179 is the one worth knowing first: it specifies annealing and thermal shock for glass produced FOR CANDLE USE, which most jars in a packaging catalog are not, and nothing on the jar says so.

93 of 93 written. Every page names its source or says it has none.

Getting started

Before there is product.

Is a candle business for you What it costs to start How much time it actually takes Where the wax comes from Equipment for a first run Your first year, month by month Where the work happens What your locality allows What protects the maker Turning a recipe into a product Naming it without a problem later

Wax and wick

Two materials that only matter together.

Paraffin, soy, coconut, beeswax and blends Melt point, and what it decides Flash point, and why it is on the safety sheet Fragrance load Wick types Sizing a wick Dyes and color What makes a vessel a candle vessel Storing wax and fragrance

Burn testing

The operation the whole craft turns on.

Why you cannot skip it The protocol Reading the melt pool Measuring the flame Soot, carbon and mushrooming When to change the wick Writing the test down What forces a retest

Pouring a batch

The day it gets made.

Choosing a batch size Weighing, not measuring Melting Adding fragrance, and at what temperature Adding dye Setting the wick Pouring Cooling Curing Trimming and finishing

What goes wrong

Named failures, all of them visible while it burns.

Tunneling The flame is too high Mushrooming Sooting Sinkholes Wet spots Frosting Sweating No cold throw, or no hot throw Secondary ignition It fell over The vessel cracked

Vessels and lids

Where the container decision lives.

What size vessel Glass, tin or ceramic Annealing, and why a jar is not a candle jar Lids How full to fill it Filling without a machine Labels on a container that gets hot Shrink bands and seals Tamper evidence How it looks on a shelf Case packing and shipping When stock goes off-condition

Selling it

One mandatory statement and three voluntary ones.

What to charge Selling at a market Selling online Selling wholesale What the label must carry What you may legally call it What your state adds Insurance, and what your policy excludes Who you buy from Where the practitioners are

Growing the operation

What breaks first.

Making more of it Making candle 2,000 match candle 1 Equipment at the next size Having somebody else make it The contract The first person you pay What you have to write down

Tools and directories

Things to use rather than read.

The burn test sheet How much wax you need Working out what to charge When it pays for itself Everything that has to be on the label The pour log Who regulates you, and when The state-by-state answer The words, in the order you meet them

Beyond the jar

The obvious second products.

Wax melts Room sprays Reed diffusers Massage candles Making it for somebody else

Written from the federal regulation, the CPSC material and the published scope of the ASTM candle standards. The standards themselves are copyrighted documents that must be bought; what is described here is their scope and requirements as published, not their text. Your own burn testing against your own vessel and wick is what establishes whether a candle you made is safe.