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Candle making is a popular hobby, and one can find the materials necessary to get started either at a local hobby shop or on the internet. A couple of excellent on-line sources will be mentioned below. After you get used to making some candles you'll quickly want to start adding color as well as fragrance. For the latter you will need to procure some essential oils to add your desired scents.

The Choice of Fragrance to Use in Your Candles

You may simply have a favorite aroma that you want to try, or you can experiment with different ideas to see how you like the aroma created by burning your scented candles. You might want to do a little research about aromatherapy and see what plant materials have been used in the past for particular purposes. Essential oils are derived from certain plant materials by the process of distillation which produces very concentrated liquids that have the strong essence of the plant. For example, eucalyptus oil is often used to help clear out congested nasal passages and make breathing easier. Essential oil of lemon is considered uplifting and it lowers stress and even acts as an anti-depressant. Citronella oil is used as a repellant for insects and is also used in the making of some perfumes. Essential oil of lavender is considered calming and relaxing and is thought to soothe headaches and even sometimes migraines.

So your choice of essential oils used when making candles can have a practical goal beyond just creating a nice scent in a room. There are hundreds of essential oils to choose from when making candles. An excellent source is the web site of the CandleChem company. Here is a list of the essential oils they offer for candle making, and these are only those that start with the letter B: Baby Lotion, Baby Powder, Baked Apple Crisp, Baked Bread, Baked Cake, Baked Pie Crust, Balsam & Amber, Banana, Banana Creme Pie, Banana Nut Bread, Banana Rum Banana Spice, Basil, Basil Nectarine, Bayberry, Bayberry Spice, Beachin, Beautiful Type, Beer, Begonia, Bergamot, Bergamot Herbal Mint, Birthday Cake, Black Cherry, Black Currant, Black Love, Black Pepper, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Black Rose, Black Tea, Black Walnut, Blackberry, Blackberry Brandy, Blackberry Mist, Blackberry Pie, Blueberry, Blueberry Cheesecake, Blueberry Cobbler, Blueberry Muffin, Bourbon, Boysenberry, Boysenberry & Moss, Brown Sugar, Brown Sugar & Fig, Brown Sugar & Spice, Bubble Gum, Buck Lure, Burgundy Wine, Butter Cr*me, Butter Mint, Butter Pecan, Butterscotch, Butterscotch Brulee.

So you can see there truly are hundreds to choose from. Also, you'll only be using 1-3 drops of essential oil for each candle, so you'll be able to make a lot of candles for each scent that you purchase. Remember to put the drops into your hot wax mixture just before it is poured into a mold. In that way the essential oils won*t evaporate as quickly as they would have had they been in the hot wax mixture for some time. If you are using a dye to color your candles, that should be done prior to adding the essential oils for fragrance.