How to make candles

Making your own candles is a super cosy and easy activity. You have plenty of opportunities to experiment with different shapes and colours and make your own special creations. Here is a guide on how to make your own candles.

What you will need

Remember to protect your work surface with paper or plastic sheets. To make your own candles you will need:

• Pot for water bath

• Melting pot, glass bowl or another type of container

• Paraffin wax or jelly wax

• Candle mold

• Candle wicks

• Bamboo sticks/skewers or something similar to hold the wick in place during solidification

• Possibly candle dye.

You can choose to buy candle moulds, but you can also use various containers that you have in your home. It can be anything from empty yoghurt cups to plastic mugs.

How to make your own candles

1. First, make a water bath where your melting pot for the stearin can stand safely.

2. You then melt the Paraffin wax or jelly wax in the water bath. Make sure it does not boil.

You can add candle dye to your mix if you want your candles to have a particular colour. This is done when the mixture reaches about 80°C. You need approximately 2g of candle dye for 2kg of paraffin wax.

3. While the paraffin wax or candle jelly is melting, you prepare the mould. Some moulds have a hole in the bottom where you can pull the wick through. Then tie the end of the wick to a bamboo stick or something similar to keep it stretched out in the mould. Alternatively, you can tie or tape the wick to the centre of the stick and place the wick directly down into the centre of the mould.

4. Then carefully pour the melted wax mass into the mould, with the wick remaining upright. It may be necessary to fill the mould again, as a small hole may appear around the wick when the candle begins to cool down and settle.

5. Once your candle has solidified and cooled off completely, you can remove it from the mould and cut the wick.

Tip: Decorate your homemade candles with a drawing pen with candle wax.

Making taper candles

It is more demanding if you want to make long taper candles. It is therefore a good idea to start by making candles in a mould until you have some experience with controlling the liquid wax.

You make long taper candles by dipping a long wick repeatedly in the liquid paraffin wax.

Instructions:

1. You will need a melting pot or vessel that is as deep as you want your candle length to be.

2. Then melt your paraffin wax in the water bath. Add candle dye if you wish.

3. Once your wax has melted, dip a long wick into the mass and pull it up again.

4. Once the wax has settled on the wick, you can repeat this process until your candle has the desired thickness.

5. Then hang your candle to cool off until it has completely solidified.

Making long candles takes more time and is more demanding as you have to stand over the hot melted wax for a longer period of time. It is therefore recommended that children only make candles in moulds.

How to calculate the burning time of your candle

Depending on the type of wax along with the amount you are using, the burning time of your candle may vary significantly. If you want help calculating just how long your new homemade candles might last, the website House of Fragrance has made this handy Online Candle Burn Time Calculator for you to use.

Based on the wax, the number of wicks and the candle weight (in ounces) used, you will get a helpful estimate of how long your wonderful candles will burn.

Reuse old candle stubs to make new candles

You can also make new candles by reusing remnants of old candles. It is best to sort the candle stubs by colour in order not to create a dirty, cloudy shade for your new candles. Remove the black wick pieces, and then grab the rest of the wick from the water bath when the candle stubs have melted. 

Candle Making

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