How Much Wax for an 8 oz Candle?

Why 8 oz of jar isn't 8 oz of wax

An "8 oz" jar is named for the fluid volume it holds — about 8 fluid ounces of liquid, or roughly 237 ml. Wax is less dense than water, so the same volume weighs less. Add the fact that candles are filled below the rim, and the wax you actually need is meaningfully less than 8 ounces by weight.

A worked example

Suppose you fill an 8 oz jar to a typical line and it holds about 200 g of finished candle. At an 8% fragrance load, the wax is 200 ÷ 1.08 ≈ 185 g, and the fragrance oil is about 15 g. Add a 5% waste allowance for what stays in your pitcher and you should melt around 194 g of wax and 15.5 g of fragrance to comfortably pour one candle.

Get your own number

Vessels vary, so the best practice is to weigh water in your actual jar to your fill line and enter that as the fill weight above. The calculator then reports wax and fragrance separately, in grams or ounces, for a single candle or a full batch.