If you are into making candles for fun and profits, you should branch out into making gel candles.  You will find that gel candle making is not really that difficult, and you will expand your product offerings dramatically.  You can learn how to make gel candles in a couple hour long weekend class, and then you will be on your way.  Here are my top tips on getting started:

1.  Get the right melting equipment — You will not be able to use the “double boiler” type of set up for gel candles.  You need to keep the temperature right at 200 degrees, so you will want to invest in a melting pot that will allow you to control the temperature to a degree or so.  If you over melt the gel material, you will make your candles cloudy and this will limit your sales of your products.

2.  Learn how to melt the material correctly —  This is the main reason that I tell all of my students to go and take a class from a professional.  Once you learn how to melt the material correctly, you can start to focus on adding some nice decorations within the gel matrix.  This will allow your candles to look custom made, and this will allow you to charge a premium price for you creations.

3.  Start with small and easy to use embed materials —  You will find that there is a definite learning curve with respect to adding embed materials into your gel candles.  You will learn very quickly what works for you and what doesn’t.  You can develop your own personal line of candles that have the look and feel that appeals to you.  Your customers will let you know what they like and don’t like by what they purchase.

I think you are starting to see that you really should add gel candles to your product line.  You will have a lot more flexibility to make unique, “one of a kind” type of candles for your customers.  This will allow you to charge a premium price for your candles and make a tidy profit for your efforts.