Safety Tips for Making Scented Candles

Making scented candles is easy, fun and inexpensive to do. But there is a serious, practical side to making scented candles, particularly if you going to be making candles with your children. Following are some basic safety tips for you to follow whenever you plan a new project.

Most scented candle making involves using melted wax, which doesn't boil like water as such but has what is called a 'flash point'. This is the temperature that the wax will actually begin to smoke and potentially flame, so it is extremely important that you monitor the temperature of your wax. Different waxes have different flash points so you need to ensure that you check the flash point when you purchase your wax, and never leave your wax unsupervised once you have started to heat it.

If your wax does flame, DO NOT attempt to put out the fire with water. Wax is similar to an oil fire and needs to be smothered with a chemical fire extinguisher, saucepan lid, safety blanket or if you don't have any of these, then general household ingredients you could use would be baking soda, flour or even sand. Please ensure you have turned your stove top or heat source off first!

Because melted wax is so hot, it can lead to very serious burns if spilled on the skin. I would highly recommend that you keep all children and pets out of your work space and never allow young children near melted wax. You can protect yourself from possible injury by wearing practical clothing-along the lines of long sleeve shirts, aprons etc. If a small amount of wax does fall on your skin, run it immediately under cold water. This will cool and harden the wax and make it easier to get off. If you have a serious accident with the wax, immerse your injury in cold water, leave the wax where it is and go to your nearest doctor/hospital for help.

Dispose of left over or unwanted melted wax in a resealable container, something along the lines of a milk bottle and dispose of in an appropriate manner. Do not pour wax down your drains as they could clog and become a fire hazard. If you have spilled any of your fragrance or essential oils, wipe up immediately to prevent any possible skin irritations, and when your project is completed, ensure that all your equipment is safely placed away out of reach of any children or pets. If you follow the commonsense tips above, you will ensure that your scented candle making projects remain fun and simple to do and you will keep yourself and family safe.

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