The most widely used gel for this type of candle making is a Medium density gel wax.
With this type of wax you are able to use about 5% of fragrance oil.
This wax will also hold small embeds such as glitter, small shells and small beads.
This type of wax also melts and pours easily.
Gel wax burns slower than other forms of wax.
It has a clear look to it and this is great for making decorative candles using embeds, when choosing your embeds make sure they are non flammable.
Gel wax melts at a slower rate than normal wax and melting it at a higher temperature will only make it smoke.
If you try and melt the wax over direct heat you must be very careful.
As with all types of candle making you must not leave the melting wax unattended.
When choosing fragrance oils for using in gel candles you must buy Gel safe fragrance oils.
These fragrance oils must be completely oil soluble and if your not sure Do Not use.
It can be very dangerous so it's best to only buy the fragrance at the same time you are buying the wax to make sure you get the right fragrance for the candle.
The flame from a gel candle will be smaller than other candles, you also need to keep trimming the wick for a good burn.
Making sure you have the right wick is important as well for safety reasons and also for the candles performance.
A good choice for wicks in gel candles is a zinc core wick as they are quite ridged.
You also need to look at the wick size and when doing this you need to take into account the density of the gel and the diameter of the glass container you are using.
Also you need to check that the wick has a wax coating which has the highest melting point available.
Also this coating should preferably be of paraffin as this will help stop the clouding which may occur when you start to burn your candle.