Candle Making
Candles are routinely cast in both rigid and flexible molds. Rubber molds are employed whenever there are detailed shapes or decorative undercuts that cannot be accommodated using rigid molds. These flexible molds permit easy, cost-effective removal of a variety of candle waxes, including soy, beeswax and paraffin.
Polytek® two-part, room temperature curing polyurethane and silicone mold rubbers are used to cast candles of many shapes, sizes and textures.
Popular mold rubbers for candle making are listed below:
Polytek® polyurethane rubbers are an economical (less expensive than silicone rubbers) and long-lasting option for making molds to cast candles. Polyurethane rubbers are recommended when making paraffin wax candles and release agent is generally not required when pouring this type of wax in polyurethane molds.
The polyurethane rubbers listed below are pourable, but can be easily thickened with PolyFiber II or Fumed Silica to make brush-on molds.
Select an option below for additional product details and buying information or browse all polyurethane mold rubbers.
POPULAR OPTIONS
| Product | Description |
|---|---|
A soft, flexible polyurethane rubber with a 1A:2B mix ratio. |
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A popular, soft to medium-hardness polyurethane rubber with a simple 1A:1B mix ratio. |
Platinum-cured (PlatSil®) silicone and tin-cured (TinSil®) silicone rubbers are recommended when making beeswax and soy-based candles because of their excellent release properties. Release agent is not required when casting these types of waxes in silicone molds.
The silicone mold rubbers listed below are pourable, but can be easily thickened for brush-on application when desired. PlatSil® silicones can be thickened with PlatThix Liquid Thickener for brush-on application and TinSil® silicones can be thickened with TinThix Liquid Thickener.
Select an option below for additional product details and buying information or browse all silicone mold rubbers:
POPULAR OPTIONS
| Product | Description |
|---|---|
A platinum-cured silicone rubber with a simple 1A:1B mix ratio and a demold time of 4 to 5 hours. |
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A platinum-cured silicone rubber with a simple 1A:1B mix ratio and a fast demold time of 1 hour. |
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A tin-cured silicone rubber with a 1A:10B mix ratio (measure with a digital scale). Tin-cured silicones are slightly less expensive than platinum-cured silicones, but have a shorter library life and shrink slightly on cure. |
NOTE ON CURE INHIBITION: Sulfur/tin/amine-contaminated materials and tools will cause cure inhibition in platinum-cured silicone rubbers (e.g., PlatSil® 73-25), which means that the rubber that is in contact with the contaminated surface will remain gummy or uncured. Make sure to test cure the rubber on your surface before full-scale application. Use a polyurethane or tin-cured silicone rubber if you know that you’ll be working with any of these inhibitors.
Thin, brush-on candle molds require a supportive mold shell. Mold shells can be made with a number of materials, including plaster, polyester resin and fiberglass and thickened polyurethane plastic. Polytek® offers strong, fast-setting polyurethane plastics that are widely used in mold shell construction.
Select an option below for additional product details and buying information:
POPULAR OPTIONS
| Product | Description |
|---|---|
A polyurethane casting plastic with a 5-minute working time. Thicken with PolyFiber II for brush-on application. |
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A polyurethane casting plastic with slightly longer working time (10 minutes) than Poly 1512X. Thicken with PolyFiber II for brush-on application. |
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