Candle Mould - Reindeer with Gifts

01 · WHAT A KILO GIVES

Around 30 grams a piece

The supplier puts the wax per candle at 30 g, and the geometry backs it: the cylinder enclosing the figure does not reach 95 g, and a reindeer with legs and antlers falls well short of that. It works out at around 33 candles per kilo.

Even so, weigh your first finished candle: that is the figure to price from.

02 · WAX SHRINKS

You have to top it up a second time

Wax contracts as it cools and a dip forms around the wick. Keep some hot wax back and top up once the surface has set but the inside is still warm; demould before that and the candle comes out with a crater.

Pour at 70-75 °C: hotter traps air in the fine detail, colder will not copy the antlers. The mould has a slit: before pouring, close it with rubber bands so the wax does not escape through the join.

03 · THE WICK

3×7 is a starting point

The supplier recommends 3×7, and it is worth testing before taking it as read: beeswax melts higher than paraffin and wants more wick at the same diameter. Too small and the flame digs a well and drowns.

After a few weeks a white film appears: that is not mould, it is wax bloom, and it proves the wax is real. It buffs off with a cloth.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

This is a seasonal mould: the figure is Christmas, and it sells in a few weeks a year.