We love getting creative at home. In recent weeks we’ve been learning to tie-dye and using soap making kits and now? We’re turning our attention to candle making.
The best place to start with candle making is to buy a candle making kit. This ensures that your efforts will turn out well as a beginner and lets you learn about the candle making process.
Then, once you’ve mastered the basics, you can try our step-by-step guide to making candles with ordinary household ingredients in your own home.
How To Make A Candle: A Step-By-Step Guide
You will need:
- Soy wax for candle making (one pack)
- Some large candle wicks (one pack)
- Fragrance oil (one bottle)
- A spatula
- A heat-proof vessel to put the candle in
- A double-boiler
- A thermometer
- A pair of chopsticks
Note: If you can’t find chopsticks, a pair of pencils can always be used as a substitute.
Note: It is possible to scale this recipe, of course, but you will need a progressively bigger container to work with – we think it’s best to make candles one at a time because it’s hard to keep a constant heat in a big container.
Measure Out Your Wax
You’ll find it easiest to work on a clean, flat place and we’d cover it in newspaper, just to make sure that any spills are easy to clean up at the end.
You need twice as much wax as will fill your container. So measure out enough to fill it twice.
Get The Wax Melted
You then add the wax to the double boiler.
You’re going to need 10-15 minutes to allow it to melt completely.
We’d recommend that you stir the mix every 30-60 seconds to ensure that it melts evenly and none of the wax burns.
Time To Add Some Fragrance
Check the wax packet and it will tell you how much fragrance to add to your candle mix.
Measure out the right amount and then add it to the mix.
You don’t have to do this, of course, but candles are always better when they smell nice, in our opinion.
Get The Wick Ready
You have to attach the wick to the base of your candle’s container before you pour your wax into it.
So, dip the base of the wick in the molten wax and stick it to the inside of the container at the base.
Leave it for about 5 minutes to harden up before you add the wax.
Or, alternatively, use superglue rather than molten wax to achieve this step.
Get Ready To Pour Your Wax
Remove the wax from the heat and take its temperature with a thermometer, it will need to cool for a minute or two but when the thermometer reads 140 degrees Fahrenheit – it’s time for you to put the wax in the container.
Gently grasp the wick and keep it straight up but don’t pull on it or you risk detaching it.
Then pour the wax, gradually, past the wick and into the container.
You want to keep a little bit of wax on hand in the boiler, don’t use it all up.
Chopsticks Time
The chopsticks are to stop the wick from getting away from you in the molten wax.
Lay them over the top of the candle container and place the wick between them.
Then leave the wax to set for approximately 4-5 hours.
Finishing Your Candle
Sometimes, the candle will harden and the top won’t look fantastic – don’t worry, that’s what that little bit of extra wax in the double boiler is for.
Melt it and then pour it over the top of your candle and let it set, it’ll look great now.
Trim Your Wick
Finally, a wick doesn’t need to be too long, so trim it back so that it’s no more than 1 inch above the surface of your candle.
It’s ready to be used now, enjoy!
Final Thoughts On Making Candles At Home
As we said at the beginning, if you don’t know how to make candles or this is your first time to do so it’s always best to use a kit because everything is prepared for you, you can’t go wrong.
But, once you’ve gained some experience, as you can see here, it’s not that challenging to make your own candles.
We hope you enjoy doing so as much as we did!