Candle Making Calculator
Wax and fragrance oil for a batch of container candles.
About this tool
Enter your container's water capacity in ml or fl oz, how many candles you're making, how full to fill them, the fragrance load and a little extra for spills. The tool gives the total wax and fragrance oil, per-candle amounts and the batch weight.
Working out wax and fragrance
The easiest way to size a batch is from the water capacity of your container: fill it with water to where the wax will stop, then measure the water. Wax is lighter than water, so a common rule is wax weight โ water volume ร 0.86. An 8 fl oz (237 ml) jar holds about 7.2 oz (204 g) of wax. Fragrance load is the oil as a percentage of the wax weight, usually 6โ10%; check your wax's maximum, often 10โ12%, because overloading causes sweating and poor burns. Ten 8 oz jars filled to 90% with 5% extra wax need about 1.93 kg of wax and 154 g of fragrance oil at 8%, around 193 g of wax and 15 g of oil per candle. Switch between metric and US units as you prefer. Honest limits: wax densities differ slightly between soy, coconut, paraffin and beeswax blends, so your first batch may need fine-tuning. Add fragrance at the temperature your supplier recommends, choose wicks from your wax maker's sizing guide, and never leave burning candles unattended. The soap lye calculator and the recipe scaler are related.
Frequently asked questions
How much wax do I need for an 8 oz candle?
About 7.2 oz (204 g) for a container that holds 8 fl oz of water.
How much fragrance oil per pound of wax?
Typically 1 to 1.6 oz per lb (6 to 10% fragrance load).
What is fragrance load?
The amount of fragrance oil as a percentage of the wax weight.
Why multiply by 0.86?
Wax is less dense than water, so a container holds about 86% as much wax by weight as water.
Is my data sent anywhere?
No. Everything is calculated in your browser, and nothing is stored or sent.