How to make home made candles

There are many reasons why your house should be filled with candles, it provides ambient lighting that creates a warm and cosy atmosphere, it makes your home smell fantastic and if done properly will add a genuine feature to any room. Candles come in many shapes, forms, colours and scents and choosing which one will work best for a specific area is a tricky task, not to be taken lightly. There are many places that sell different types of candles, but I find for the best results in regards to colours, designs and scents that match your decor, it is best to simply make your own. It is far simpler than you may think and apart from being a great home decor feature, it can be very therapeutic not only to make the candles but to smell them and watch them burn afterwards.

Finding candle making supplies is easy as well, there are many different places that sell candles and candle making equipment both on the internet and at stores the best way to find where is to shop around a bit and find the appropriate places according to your budget, wherever you shop you will find a vast array of candle making supplies and you will be able to buy everything from the wicks to the different scents, these can all be bought according to your own preferences as the whole point of making your own candles instead of buying them is to personalise them according to your tastes, your decor and the effect you wish to make. The most difficult part of the candle making procedure is personalising them to your tastes, matching colours, shapes and smelling the different scents will occupy you for many hours and should not be rushed, these are the most important aspects of your candles and you should dedicate a good many hours to the task of finding the right ones.

If you so choose you can buy a candle making kit or if that is not possible you can use whatever happens to be lying around your house here’s what you will need and how to make your own candles.

1. A work area. The kitchen will work best for this as you will need a stove to melt the wax, an electric stove would be the best bet as it is unsafe to have an open flame anywhere near melted candle wax which if exposed to an open flame will react in pretty much the same way as oil. Remember to prep your work surface accordingly, any exposed counter tops should be covered in aluminium foil, grease paper or a table cloth as the various dyes if spilt can stain the counters and getting dried wax off a counter top is a job you don’t necessarily want to do.

2. A pouring pot. This must be metal and able to withstand high temperatures, it should also preferably have a handle that withstands heat and a spout which will allow you to pour the wax with ease.

3. A melting pot. This should be an old saucepan preferably a big one that you no longer use or no longer need to use. Along with the saucepan you will need to make a raised platform for the bottom of it, this can be anything from a grill base to canning rings, basically anything that will raise the pouring pot off the base of the saucepan and away from the direct heat, use boiling water to surround the pouring pot to melt the wax and keep a careful eye on the thermometer, wax should never be heated up to higher than 200 degrees as this could cause a fire, always have an extinguisher or baking soda on hand to quickly extinguish any fires, NEVER USE WATER as this will only accelerate the burning and create a bigger fire. Smothering the fire with a cloth also works well in emergencies.

4. Wax. This can be bought anywhere both new and used. There are many different forms of wax available and once again you can use your own judgement accordingly, the best options are of course Paraffin wax, Soy wax, Bees wax and Palm wax. The different waxes all work in similar ways so when melting them it doesn’t make too much difference which one you use, never leave wax alone as it heats up very quickly and can turn into a fire even faster. This is where a thermometer really comes into its own because as soon as the wax reaches between 130 and 145 degrees, it should be taken off the stove and poured immediately.

5. Jars. These once again can be to your own personal taste, you may decide to buy new jars all of the same shape and size or you could use whatever may be lying around the house at that specific time, which could be anything from old jam jars to glass bowls, remember that these jars will be subjected to a fair amount of heat and should be chosen accordingly. When the wax is melted, use the pouring pot to pour the melted wax into the jar, always remember to pour slowly because when the jar is nearly full a small pit will form in the middle and you may need to top it off with some more wax to make a nice smooth top.

6. Wicks. These usually come with your candle making kit either in a long roll or single wick with a readymade base which is not always necessary as the jar bottoms provide the perfect base for the wicks. The wicks should be placed in the jar immediately after pouring while the wax is still melted as attempting to put them in afterwards is impossible, alternatively you can pour the wax around the ready placed wicks but this requires good hand to eye coordination and a steady hand, both to pour and hold the wick upright. When you have finished pouring the wax use two butter knives to hold the wick upright while the candle cools and solidifies.

7. Dye. This comes in many different forms and colours, however if you cannot find the perfect colour immediately just like your school art classes you should play around to make your own colour matched to your decor, be careful not to be wasteful though because this stuff can be quite expensive. The dye can be poured in two different places, either while the wax is in the melting pot if you want lots of candles in the same colour or alternatively it can be added to the different jars once the wax has been poured, if this is your chosen method pour the dye in before you place the wick as it may need to be stirred to change the waxes colour completely, however a streaking effect can look quite nice if you pour the dye into a semi-cooled jar of wax and swirl it around.

8. Scenting. This should be done last and once again while the wax is in the jars before cooling. After you have poured the dye you may then add the different scents these can be added to your own discretion but remember to read the instructions on the bottle carefully to see the amount of scent required for the amount of wax. Once again you can choose a single scent or you can play around with mixing them it will be entirely up to you. Never add the scents to the melting or pouring pot as the heat will cause the smell to burn away and will be a complete waste of time.

After all these instructions have been done carefully the candles need to cool and solidify, don’t place them in the fridge as the wax will simply crumble leaving you with an ugly, useless candle. You will find that the therapeutic value of making your own candles is simply immense, if you have had a difficult day there is nothing better to take your mind off things than making your own candles. Once they are finished you can decorate your house with them sit down pour yourself a drink sit back and enjoy the lights dancing around your house while the smell, eases the tensions of the day