Oooooooooh, I have just made candles with 10% oils and they really are as good as Diptyque/Jo Malone

[LaurieFairyCake]

First time I've ever made candles and I wanted really smelly ones as I like dead posh ones

I made Amber and Lavender (my fave Jo Malone fragrance) and Lime and Fig.

I used soy wax so environmentally friendly and no paraffin and bought tea cups from charity shops so no waste, the ones I've made are actually giant french pottery cups that I got today.

The french cups worked out at £5.40 each as none of the stuff I bought was cheap. Not cheap as chips and if you used paraffin and cheap oils you could make it a lot cheaper. But one heck of a lot cheaper than posh candles.

Dead chuffed me and my home smells lovely.

I have another 15 oils to try - guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year

Uh oh, I ordered from them too! Ordered on 2nd November, confirmation email has been sent, but no sign of any wax yet (although tis only the 6th).

P'haps lost in the Royal Mail strikes, dinosaur? Although, you should have received an apologetic email...

Will wait with baited breath (I, too, am very excited!).

Well my DH managed to get in touch with them yesterday - they returned his calls, and apparently with my order there has been a problem with DHL and they are re-sending and I should expect to receive by Wednesday next week. I'll let you know. Fingers crossed BV that mine was a one off and that you get your order without problems.

I just wish they'd told me they were experiencing problems rather than ignore my emails and phone calls.

So, to start from scratch with soy candle what would I need to buy to make say 20 candles?
Soy wax - how much
wicks - which ones
fragrance
some cups

anything else??
confused!

I've just ordered, probably way too much but there you are..

5kg blended soy wax
50 wicks
3 x 30 ml fragrance oils (not sur eif this is enough but I'd spent quite a bit by this point)

I ordered and am waiting for 5kgs of soy wax, I've got 4 bottles of 500 mls of fragrance and am waiting for 4 bottles of 300 mls fragrance which is arriving with my wax and 100 wicks.

What do people think about using shot glasses, they're quite tall and narrow, my theory is if they don't explode when you do a flaming sambuca they're not going to explode with a little candle inside. Maybe I'll do one as an experiment to start with.

Do you mean a candle, or a flaming sambuca, WTD?

My stuff has arrived today!! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO I was like a kid at christmas!

French vanilla smells like warm fudge and the cherry ameretto is nice too, its like bakewell tarts but I'm not so keen on the baked apple crumble, I order them and the wicks from wicksnwhacks on ebay and the service was fab.

Lovemygirls, where have you bought your fragrance oils from?

Have I missed why soy wax is better than parafin?

From wicksnwhacks on ebay, I brought the small 30ml bottles first to see what they were like, about £1.55 plus postage i think

Joining this thread a bit late, but my stuff just arrived this afternoon and can't wait to make candles tomorrow!! Ordered from candlelights website - it has taken about a week and a half (not very good IMO when I'm paying £9 courier charge but hey ho) I ordered 5 fragrances to start with - 2 Christmassy ones, a Jo Malone style Lime Basil & Fig one, Lavender Sage & Citrus and Grapefruit & Fig... Can't wait to play! Hehehe

Still haven't got my stuff from the Candlelights website and I placed my order on 24th October, they told me it would arrive yesterday but no joy. They've got until the end of the week and then I'm going to have to start looking for reimbursement I think.

On a positive side, I ordered some fragrances from a company called Sensory Perfection at the same time and they've been sat on my desk for weeks, they smell gorgeous and I'm desperate to put them in some candles. Excellent service too, arrived within 2 days of placing order.

any other places to buy the soy wax from other than candlelights?

I brought mine from there and it came the next day dont understand why there is such a delay with yours WTD

Walkthedinosaur, you have getting such bad service - my wax arrived yesterday (ordered on 4/11), bashed box but here eventually.

I agree with twolittlemonkeys, with a £9 courier charge, it should be an awful lot quicker.

Actually my wax arrived at lunchtime today so I'm very happy. Box bashed to buggery, ripped and wet but all contents fine - first batch of candles cooling on the side

To be fair I think Candlelights are having problems with their courier service, apparently my first order went astray and DHL never bothered to inform them.

Still I might shop around for someone else next time.

I've done them, they are brilliant!

I've made about 40 little ones and I've got about a quarter of my wax left, I've run out of pots and fragrance oil and I've only got a few wicks left. I will be making more!

which sort of wicks do i need, what size? to make teacups.have just ordered 3kg of wax, how many teacups will that make roughly?

Measure the height of your tea cup then add a couple of cm's so that you can bend the wick round a kebab stick to keep it straight while the wax sets.

I ordered 5kg of soy wax and I've made about 40 small ones and I've got about a quarter of the bag of wax left.

Peckarolloveragaib - a few reasons why soy is better than wax - environmentally friendly as a by product of soy beans and not nasty petro-chemical paraffin. Also a natural product so doesn't leave those black stains on the ceiling. Paraffin disperses black vapour which is carcinogenic apparently too.

I'm so pleased to hear all you lot making candles

I'm just about to place my next order for wax - last week I had a bit of a garden clear up and remelted all the garden candle jars and pots, cleaned them and refilled them with soy wax and citronella candles - all ready for next year.

I've going to make some Christmas candles for myself and friends so i'm going to have a lovely time shopping for fantasy fragrances like myrrh, pine, cinnamon etc.

I have been collecting little gu dessert pots (unfortunately I had to eat all the chocolate in them first and that was so hard!) for ages now. Those and some small jars I already had are lined up.

I'm just trying to think of something suitably Christmassy scent wise. I'm thinking frankincense and myrrh, not too much so it isn't too sickly sweet but the cinnamon sounds good too!

Laurie I've just ordered all my stuff ready to make them for christmas!

You sent me one of yours, I'd love to repay the favour, could you send me your address? annie kry @ hotmail.com

Laurie - In the Sunday Times Style section yesterday (not that I approve of the Style section) they had scented candles in tea china for...... £26.50!

you - that is so sweet, very kind of you - I can't wait to hear how you get on

wukter - I saw that in the Style sectionI would like to make more of it myself and perhaps do a little online shop - I'm currently doing a loft conversion (will be able to move in this week) so that I have a craftcandle room upstairs to make stuff. I can't wait to have a room of my own

as for Christmas smells, there was a description of a candle in the paper yesterday which had the Christmassy smell of orange/clove/cinnamon which I am desperate to try as it sounds lovely.

Does anyone know why my candles are only burning down the wick, and then going out?(plaintive emoticon)