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Wax & Fragrance Calculator

How much wax to melt, how much oil to add, and what each candle costs you to make.

Density differs by wax, which changes how much you need to fill the same jar.
Quick set: , , , ,
90% is typical — the melt pool needs headspace.
1.28 oz per pound of wax
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For 12 × 8 oz candles

Wax — whole batch
75.11 oz
6.26 oz per candle
Fragrance oil — whole batch
6.01 oz
0.5 oz per candle
Total poured
81.12 oz
6.76 oz per candle
Fragrance is included in the fill, not added on top. Oil takes up volume. If you calculate the wax needed to fill the jar and then add fragrance, you overflow by exactly your fragrance load. We solve for wax and oil together so the finished candle fills the vessel.

Cost per candle

Optional. Enter what you actually pay and this works out your materials cost per unit.

Vessel diameters here are typical for the size class, not guarantees. Nominal capacity describes volume, not width, and the same "8 oz" jar varies between suppliers. Measure the inner diameter of your own container before you buy wicks.

The mistake this avoids

The usual way to size a batch is to work out the wax needed to fill the container, then add fragrance at your chosen percentage. That overflows, every time, by exactly your fragrance load — because the oil occupies volume too.

This calculator solves for the combined pour instead. It takes the volume you actually want to fill, converts it to weight using the density of your specific wax, then splits that total into wax and oil at your load percentage. Wax and oil together fill the vessel.

How fragrance load is measured

Load here is a percentage of wax weight, which is the dominant convention in candle making. The traditional phrasing, “one ounce per pound of wax”, is 6.25% in these terms, and the calculator shows the equivalent under the input so you can cross-check against a recipe written the old way.

Every wax has a practical ceiling for how much oil it can bind. Past that point the excess does not stay in solution: it seeps out, pools on the surface, and becomes a fire risk. The calculator warns you when you cross the figure usually cited for your chosen wax.

Next step

Once you know your batch size, you still need to size the wick — that is the part that decides whether the candle actually burns properly.

Size a wick

Where these numbers come from

CD, LX, HTP and zinc ranges are published against a paraffin baseline; ECO is published against soy. The engine converts between the two using the documented one-to-three-step soy offset, and both source datasets agree at the overlap.