My Journey Making Candles

 

I love candles, but they can be very expensive. I thought I would slowly buy the things to make some and test the waters. I bought my wax off Amazon because it was cheaper than the other craft stores in town. You can get a ten pound bag of soy wax chips for about $20. (The link takes you to the kind I bought)

 

I read a few things on making colored candles, and people all over said that Crayola colors worked best for adding color. You can use a pencil to make sure the wick stays in place. The wick was too short on one of the big jars I did, so I simply held it until it was set up straight. You want to melt a little bit of wax to help hold the wick in place. This will make sure it stays on the bottom of the candle, and help you while you pour the wax; you don't want it to be moving around.

 

 

First, put some wax into a glass cup, or something glass that can be microwaved. At first I was scared to use a glass cup because I didn't want it to be ruined. The soy wax cleaned up easily once I was done.  If you are making a BIG candle and you want it one solid color, I would recommend doing this with a used pan on the stove or a really big glass bowl.

 

I added the color but you can't see it in the picture above. I would recommend trying to cut the color up into small pieces, because it melted slower than my wax. The one I did were the color was in big hunks didn't melt and mix very well at all, giving me a light creamy color rather than a bright one.

You want to microwave the wax at even intervals, I did 40 seconds when I had a full 8oz cup of wax. After every 40 seconds, be sure to stir the wax. This is especially important if you are adding color; in the cups I didn't stir constant the color would sit at the bottom of the cup. Also when the wax was almost all the way melted and almost done I would microwave it for less time. Don't forget to set your wick, this is important to have done before you start melting a bunch of wax.

This is the melted version of the cup above. As you can see the wax almost halved.

Once the wax was liquid and evenly melted, add your scent. I decided to use essential oils. I read on one blog that you should use about an ounce. I simply added a few drops every time the wax was melted. I think how much oil you add depends on the brand and kind of oil you get. If it's a strong scent, you might not want as much; if it's a weak scent, it might take more.

 

When you add the scent be sure to mix it up very well. If not the smell won't be evenly distributed in the wax. I'd assume you'd get a while of strong smell and a while of not strong, but I don't really know what would happen.

 

Once you add the wax you let it set up for a few days before you burn it. If you want to do a multicolor candle, simple wait for one layer to dry before you add the next. It only took about an hour before I could add the next color.

 

I love this, it's simple and cheaper than buying candles. I also like the essential oils!!!

 

Hope you enjoy.