How to Make Candles

We’ve written about our dogs before (see here) so you probably won’t be surprised to know that a couple weeks ago Peter and I decided to embark on Operation Make the House Smell Better. When my best friend, Clay, came to visit we decided to really spring into action by making our own candles. Our project didn’t turn out perfectly, but the house smelled great for awhile and we learned that making candles really isn’t that hard. We’ll walk you through it below.

You’ll need:

• soy wax
• a double boiler
• a funnel
• a box of crayons
• essential oils
• bleached wicks
• containers for the candles
• a candle thermometer
• pencils

Step One: Melt the wax in your double boiler. We created our own double boiler by using an inexpensive pot from Target along with a wok. Clay and I bought this pot particularly for making candles because we did not want to ruin any of our nicer cookware.

Step Two: Stir the wax regularly, keeping an eye on the temperature. Never leave hot wax unattended.

Step Three: When the wax reaches a temperature of 180 degrees add crayons to dye it to your desired color. Remember that the wax will dry lighter than it looks when it is melted. For the first batch, Clay and I wanted to try to create a lavender. We originally had the idea that we could make the candles and give them out as favors at Peter’s and my wedding next year. The color turned out great. I’m not sure if we’ll end up doing this but it is a fun idea.

Step Four: Turn off the heat and let the wax cool to 140 degrees. When the wax has cooled you will add your scent. Clay and I used 1/4 oz. per two pounds of wax. Neither of us wanted overpoweringly strong candles. The scent ended up very subtle which was nice for us but may not be potent enough for other people. We also used inexpensive oils from the craft store but a higher grade oil would probably enhance the smell.

Step Five: Right after you add the scent to your wax use your funnel to pour the wax into the containers that you will use for your candles. When we were shopping for things for candles we forgot to buy a funnel so Clay created one out of cardboard and aluminum foil. If you’re afraid of ruining your funnel then you can make one like ours.

Step Six: Lay a pencil across the top of your container and wrap the wick around the pencil. This, in combination with the anchor at the bottom of the wick, stabilizes the wick, ensuring that when the candle hardens the wick will stay in the middle of the candle.

Once your candle hardens, the process is done! We used a four pound package of soy wax and only made eight 6 oz. candles. We’re hoping to try again sometime soon and improve the size of the flame. For some reason our candles have an itty-bitty flame that is easily put out. It could have something to do with the size of the wick. Based on the measurements of our containers we opted to use medium sized wicks but perhaps larger wicks would burn better. This is all speculation.

Have you ever made candles?