Have you ever made candles?

[QuimReaper]

I have a whole bunch of burned out glass jars leftover from my wedding and have them hoarded with the vague idea of making my own candles as Christmas gifts. I had a colleague who did it one Christmas and he said it was really easy, but looking on blogs and things my head sort of exploded.

Has anyone done it?

I got a candle making kit for Christmas once. You were supposed to use a double saucepan to heat the wax. Obviously I ignored this as we didn't have such a strange and glamourous thing.

The pan caught fire and melted the polystyrene tiles on the kitchen ceiling. Good luck

I've made them before - it's fun but they turned out looking pretty amature if I'm honest. You may be much better than me at this stuff, though, I often get inspiration for homemade gifts that end up looking like primary school craft projects.

Super super easy!

Get soy wax flakes online (amazon nice and simple) - use 2 (i think) times as much of the container you want to have the candle in of flakes

Use a crayola crayon - chip a bit off - this is your colouring

Whack it all in a jug, microwave for 30 seconds, then stir, then for further increments of 10 seconds until mostly clear.

Add in some drops of essential oil (frangrence) or look online at sites like scentsy for candle scents

A final 10 seconds

Fix your wick and wick holder to base of candle container - blu tack works well.

Pour candle into container, and hold wick straight with a clothes peg!
Leave to dry for 24 hours in an ambient place, not a cold place otherwise it cracks.

Bonus - you can easily do a mug ir cup, and as it is soy wax it washes easily out from the mug - 2 presents in one!

inquiringchef.com/how-to-make-soy-candles/

I have made candles, in the past. I bought the wicks (they are available in Hobbycraft and online), and melted the wax in a pan on the stove - I don't have a double boiler pan, so just used one, carefully, and had no problems. You could put a pyrex bowl over a pan of simmering water to melt the wax.

I didn't want to buy expensive stuff to colour my candles, so I used wax crayons, which worked very well.

I made my candles in little coffee cups that I bought on ebay, and I sold them at craft fairs.

Amazing, thanks guys! hugh that's what I was afraid of, sounds just like something I'd do A Pyrex bowl sounds like a simple alternative to a double boiler. Bugger to clean afterwards I'd think though.

SDT did you decorate them with anything, except making them coloured? They must have looked pretty good if they sold!

Come to think of it, a Pyrex jug in the microwave would be even easier to decant them into the jars...

Yes, I've done it. The hardest thing, I found, was finding wick which burnt well without being smokey. I never quite cracked that.

I can highly recommend this company as I've taken a candle making workshop where we got to use the products. Super easy and very little mess - www.eazicandle.co.uk/

Thanks Coco they look great!

I'm thinking about pressing some lavender to put in the jars too. I like the idea of using dried flowers like this but I'm afraid they'd catch fire...?

Hmmm - these posts are tempting me to have another go.

As we have moved on somewhat since the seventies, there are no polystyrene ceiling tiles for me to worry about.

Yes I make them , it's really scientific , as they are different types of wax, wicks. It's about getting the combination of your container , size of wick, type of wax and amount of fragrance right. Each wax has a maximum amount of fragrance it can hold.

Oh dear TrimYourWick! My head just exploded again

Buy soy wax and wicks. Melt the wax in a normal pan, pour into the jars, and add wicks. Cut them to length later.

Super easy, and soy wax burns for longer and is eco.

If you're feeling adventurous, add natural oils for scent.

There is some good info on the 2 sites below

www.nicandlesupplies.co.uk
www.candle-shack.co.uk
www.suppliesforcandles.co.uk

I started as a hobby it is very addictive

can highly recommend this company as I've taken a candle making workshop where we got to use the products. Super easy and very little mess - www.eazicandle.co.uk/

I've used these as well, far less messy than the "proper" way. I get mine from Amazon as there is a seller on there that works out a bit cheaper

I've just started making candles and get my candle making supplies from www.scentssoapsandcandles.co.uk
They've been very helpful and have answered any questions I have had and been very patient with me!