After all, crayons are made of wax, and candles are made of wax, so this should be a match made in heaven right? Not quite.Ĭrayons are made primarily of wax, specifically paraffin, but they also contain insoluble pigments/oxides which are powder colorants added to the wax. Who doesn’t have a few miscellaneous crayons in their art stash? Using crayons to color candles has been widely popularized by DIY YouTubers. As tempting as it might be to reach for those tiny food coloring bottles in your next candle project, this one is clearly a fail!
No amount of stirring would incorporate, as you can see in the photos below. It should also be noted that some additives, which are perfectly safe, can become dangerous in an application such as a candle, which involves an open flame. This test was the easiest, because it was clear from the beginning that the food coloring would not blend or bind, and it immediately beaded up and sank to the bottom.
The problem with these liquid and gel colorants is they contain ingredients like water, propylene glycol (which attracts water), glycerin, citric acid, alcohol, high fructose corn syrup, agar gum, and other complicated additives that are unable to bond with the wax. They are ultra-concentrated, economical, and come in an array of colors. The standard food coloring used for tinting your favorite desserts seems like an obvious choice. So, let’s start with the ones you have around the house that seem like they SHOULD work. After considerable testing, I can tell you that not all colorants and dyes are the same when it comes to functioning in your finished candle, especially vegetable wax candles like soy and coconut. There are a multitude of candle dyes on the market, and quite a few off-label colorants you might be curious about or tempted to try in candle making such as micas, oxides/pigments, crayons, and food coloring.
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