Every craft has its own vocabulary, and a wax label or product page can read like a foreign language when you are starting out. This glossary collects the candle making terms you will run into most often and defines each one plainly, grouped by what it describes. Use it as a reference while you read a how-to or shop for supplies. When you are ready to put the terms to work, the Step by Step Guides walk through each project step by step, and the wider Learning Center covers the why behind the methods.
Parts of a Candle
A candle's anatomy is incredibly simple: it consists of a fuel source, a wick to carry that fuel to the flame, and basic base hardware to keep the wick securely upright. These are the words for each piece.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Wick | The material that delivers fuel to the flame. As the wax melts, the wick draws it up and burns it. Browse candle wicks by type and size. |
| Core | The inner support running through some wicks (cotton, paper, or zinc) that helps a wick stand upright in melted wax. |
| Coreless | A wick with no core material, common in flat braided and wooden wicks. |
| Primed | A wick that has been coated with wax, which helps it light cleanly and stand straight. |
| Wick tab | A flat metal disc with a small center hole that holds the wick at the bottom of a candle. |
| Neck | The short vertical shaft of a wick tab that grips the wick. Neck lengths vary by tab. |
| Wick clip assembly | A precut length of wick with a wick tab already crimped in place, ready to drop into a container. |
| Wick bar | A small metal bar laid across the top of a container to hold the wick centered and upright while the wax sets. |
| Wick pin | A metal pin that takes the place of the wick while you pour a votive or pillar. You remove it once the candle is cool and thread a wick through the channel it leaves. |
| Melt pool | The pool of liquid wax that forms at the top of a candle as it burns. |
Waxes & Additives
The wax is the fuel, and additives are the substances blended into it to change how it looks or burns. Shop the full range of candle wax, or read the candle waxes & additives guide for how each additive behaves.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Paraffin wax | A wax refined from petroleum and the most widely used wax in candle making. See paraffin wax. |
| Soy wax | A vegetable wax made from hydrogenated soybean oil. A clean-burning, plant-based alternative to paraffin. See soy wax. |
| Palm wax | A plant-based wax made from palm oil, known for a crystalline surface pattern and a firm structure. |
| Candle gel | A clear-to-translucent gelled mineral oil used to make see-through candles. Gel is not a wax, and gel makers avoid that word, so we do too. |
| Single-pour wax | A wax formulated to shrink so little that it does not need a second pour to level the top. |
| Additive | Any substance blended into wax to improve its burn or change its properties, such as stearic acid, vybar, or a UV stabilizer. See wax additives. |
| Stearic acid | An additive that hardens wax, raises opacity, and slows the burn. Traditional in pillar and votive blends. |
| Vybar | A polymer that helps wax hold more fragrance oil while adding opacity and richer color. A modern alternative to stearic acid. |
| UV stabilizer | An additive that slows the fading and yellowing dyed or white wax suffers under sunlight and indoor lighting. |
| Overdip | Coating a finished candle in a layer of a different wax for color, shine, or a sealed surface. |
| Mold release | A coating applied to the inside of a mold so the finished candle slides out cleanly. |
Fragrance & Scent
These are the words for how a candle is scented and how strongly it carries that scent. Every Lone Star fragrance oils product page lists the data behind them: recommended load, flash point, and top, middle, and base notes. For deeper reading, see the scent guide and the Fragrance Oils FAQ.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fragrance oil | A scented oil blended from synthetic and natural aroma components, made for candles and other products. Also called scent oil. Browse fragrance oils. |
| Essential oil | An aroma oil distilled or pressed from a natural source such as a plant, flower, leaf, or wood. |
| Synthetic oil | A fragrance oil whose aroma materials are made in a lab rather than extracted from nature. |
| Scent load | The amount of fragrance a wax can hold, usually given as a percentage of the wax weight. |
| Scent throw | How much fragrance a candle releases into the air. See hot throw and cold throw. |
| Hot throw | The scent a candle gives off while it is burning. |
| Cold throw | The scent a candle gives off when it is not burning. |
| Double scenting | Adding one ounce of fragrance oil per pound of wax. |
| Triple scenting | Adding one and a half ounces of fragrance oil per pound of wax. |
| Cure | A resting period after pouring, usually about a week, that lets the wax bind the fragrance molecules and lock in the throw before the first burn. |
| Flash point | The temperature at which a fragrance oil can ignite if it meets a spark or open flame[1]. It is safe to add fragrance to wax above this temperature; the point is to keep the oil away from open flames. See Fragrance Oil Flash Point: What Does it Mean?. |
Candle Types
Candles are named for their shape and how they are meant to be burned. The ones poured into a container start with the right candle vessels, and each type below has a how-to guide if you want to make one.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Container candle | A candle poured directly into the vessel it will burn in. See How to Make Container Candles. |
| Pillar candle | A free-standing candle made in a mold, meant to burn without a container. See How to Make Pillar Candles. |
| Votive | A small candle, roughly 1.75 inches across and 2 inches tall, burns in a votive holder. See How to Make Votive Candles. |
| Taper | A tall, slender candle that narrows toward the top and burns in a candle holder. |
| Tealight | A small candle, about 1.5 inches across, poured in a metal or plastic cup. |
| Floater | A shallow, wide candle with a tapered base, shaped to float on water. |
| Hurricane | A decorative outer shell of high-melt-point wax that is not burned itself; a separate candle burns inside it and can be replaced. |
| Tart | A small piece of scented wax, often about 2.5 inches across, melted in a tart warmer instead of burned. Also referred to as a melt. See How to Make Wax Tarts. |
Tools, Molds & Color
The equipment and materials you reach for at the workspace, plus the words for shaping and coloring a candle. Find these in candle molds and candle dyes.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Mold | A form used to shape a free-standing candle, often metal. See candle molds. |
| Mold plug | A small cone-shaped rubber piece that closes the wick hole in the bottom of a mold. |
| Mold sealer | A clay-like putty that seals the wick hole and blocks the gap around the wick on the outside of a mold. Also called mold putty. |
| Double boiler | Two nested pans with water in the lower one, used to melt wax slowly and evenly. |
| Water bath | A container of cool water used to speed up how fast a poured candle cools. |
| Dye | A colorant added to wax, sold as liquid or solid blocks. See candle dyes. |
| Diameter | The width of a candle, container, or mold at its widest point. |
| Opaque | Not letting light through, the look of most pillar and votive waxes. |
Common Defects & Surface Effects
Most of these are cosmetic, a few affect the burn, and all of them have a fix once you can name them. For wick-driven problems like tunneling and mushrooming, the Choosing Candle Wicks for Candle Making goes deeper.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Frosting | A white, dusty bloom that appears on soy candles. It is harmless and does not change the burn or the scent throw. |
| Mottling | A snowflake-like crystalline pattern in the surface of a wax, sometimes wanted, sometimes not. |
| Chatter marks | Horizontal rings on the surface of a candle, caused by pouring into a cold mold or container, or pouring too cool. Also called jump lines or stuttering. |
| Wet spots | Areas where wax has pulled away from the container wall, leaving cloudy patches. Common in container candles and also called delamination. |
| Sink hole | A cavity that forms as wax cools and contracts, usually around the wick. |
| Relief holes | Holes poked into a cooling candle to release trapped air pockets before a second pour. |
| Repour | Filling the dip left after the first pour cools, to level the top. Also called a second pour. |
| Tunneling | When the wick fails to melt a full pool and burns down the center, leaving a ring of unmelted wax on the sides. |
| Mushrooming | A ball of carbon that builds up on the wick tip during burning. |
| Afterglow | The faint glow and brief continued burn at a wick tip just after a candle is put out. |
| Burn rate | The amount of wax a candle consumes per hour, measured in grams. |
| Melt point | The temperature at which a wax begins to turn liquid. |