Math is one of the most intimidating parts of candle-making, but only because we allow it to be! It truly isn’t that hard and I want to help remove that intimidation so you always feel empowered and like the awesome Chandler you are. I promise that learning the math is simple and is a step toward mastering your craft. Click this lil link to skip down directly to the simple formula and get to business.
So today, I’m going to explain how to determine the amount of fragrance oil you need for your candle project, and how to plug that number into your candle recipe. Let’s remove the fear associated with this math and conquer it today!
Candle Recipe
Now, for simplicity, I am going to make a single 8oz candle. (If you make your candle’s in batches, you would just need to calculate for the “batch”.) This math is the same whether you are making wax melts, votive’s, pillars, container’s or specialty candles. This formula applies to all your scented wax creations.
My recipe is simple: coconut wax, and 4% fragrance load (f.o. load). Sometimes I add color but since it is just “shavings”, I don’t need to add it to my calculations.
How do you know what fragrance load to use? Well, that comes from personal preference. Over the years, I got into the horrible habit of automatically using 10% but, I have stopped this and I am so happy I did. I will write about that in a future post, but the fo load is basically what you want it to be. Of course, always check your wax manufacturer for what it can hold. For example, my current wax CocoBright 11 can take up to 12% f.o. load. But just because it CAN doesn’t mean it SHOULD. Currently, I use 4-6% using quality fragrance oils. 4% on the scents that are stronger all their own and 6% for those that are lighter. I have now come to the point if I can’t get a good scent throw from 6%, I am not wasting my money on that oil.
*Always keep in mind, in “candle-math” we want our recipe to equal 100%. This means, if we add .5 oz of fragrance oil to our recipe, we must remove the same amount, .5oz, in wax. This includes if you add .25oz in dye, you would also remove .25oz of wax from your recipe. If you forget to remove the wax, it won’t do anything bad, you just won’t have a true calculation… it’ll be “watered down”, lol or rather “waxed down”.
Use This Simple Formula To Calculate
For an 8oz candle with a 4% fragrance load:
- Start with the total weight of the candle: 8oz.
- Determine the fragrance load percentage: 4% (or 0.04 as a decimal).
- Multiply the total weight of the candle by the fragrance load percentage:
8oz * 0.04 = 0.32oz (If using a calculator with a “percentage button” (as opposed to decimals), just use 8*4%= .32oz).
So, at 4% f.o. load, for an 8oz candle, you would add 0.32oz of fragrance oil.
*Remember, if you add 0.32oz of fragrance oil, you need to subtract the same amount of wax to keep the total weight at 8oz, maintaining the total percentage at 100%.
You Are Now A Candle Math Pro!
That is it! Super easy right?! Now that you know how easy it is, don’t beat yourself up over all the wasted fragrance oil. Just think of how that little one oz bottle now gives you more than a single candle tester! That is how I test. From a single oz, I make a couple votive’s and test them. If I like the scent and it performs well as a votive, it gets made into 2 small tester candles and a couple melts. All from a single oz of fragrance. That way, I get a good idea of what the scent is like. And if I love it from there, I buy the big bottle. Think of all the money you could save!
I love writing and making candles- and helping other Candle-Makers in their process. If you have any candle-math advice, or other candle tips/info, please comment below. If you have questions or would like to see certain topics, please comment below or use the form on our Get In Touch page to reach out.
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