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

Just found this thread, an the are amazing! Love the china cup idea. Must suggest this to son's enterprise club at school.

Just bumping this thread to ask a question of all you seasoned candlemakers... Why has my last batch of candles set with the surface all bumpy and uneven looking? Last year when I made candles the tops of them were all beautifully smooth - this time they look like potholed roads - can anyone tell me what I've done wrong so I can avoid it please?

My house smells lush right now but all the candles I made for Christmas look naff and I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to homemade presents and won't give away the ones with bumpy surfaces so I need to make sure it doesn't happen again!

Bearing in mind I've not yet made any candles can't you melt a little more wax to cover it up?

Heat the surface with a hairdryer so it melts a tiny bit, it should then smooth out. That worked for me.

OOh thanks I will try the hairdryer trick! Not much space in the jar to add extra wax!

The hairdryer worked brilliantly, thanks OvO. This morning I have also made mandarin, vanilla & mulled wine spice, spiced apple and a slightly experimental mandarin one with whole cloves in it - looks pretty good actually. Am in need of more Gu ramekins before I can make more though so will have to eat more chocolate souffles before I can make more candles. Tis a hardship The more desserts I eat now, the sooner teachers' Christmas presents will be sorted!

Ok, twolittlemonkeys - the reason for the bumpiness and possible shrinkage from the edge is because the containers were too much colder than the hot wax - I keep the containers in the lowest oven setting before I pour.

massiveknob - remelt by putting containers in the oven on the absolute lowest oven setting, then you can our it all into a big jug (I sieve through a tea strainer to get out any added bits that always find their way in) , add a few more drops of essential oil then repour into containers. I remelt all the time, I don't take massive care of my candles, always get a bit of tunneling and I hate waste so I always reuse. What's nice about it is that the soy after remelting goes a more golden colour.

Since I started this thread 2 years ago I have purchased about £160 worth of wax, I burn candles every day (a lot without scent as really you only need one scented candle going at a time) - I've made dozens to give away. It has worked out incredibly cheap to have a really lovely lit house.

Other things I've found that have been amazing - someone posted a link to Bloom and I got 3 mercury tea light holders for £2 (so I bought 9 of them) - I filled them with wax and they burn for about 15 hours each. I 'display' them on one of those tiny Ikea shelves (for a fiver) so I have a wall of romantic light for no money - and of course because it's soy there is no wastage or dirty spots on the ceiling.

Can I ask 2 questions, possibly both stupid:

1. When the candle burns down to the bottom of the cup why doesn't the china crack?
2. When the candle is finished do you just chip out all the remains, wash out and reuse?

1. Because soy wax 'burns' at a very low temperature - not enough to crack glass or china

1. You don't 'chip' anything - you put in the oven on a very low heat,, wait til melted then pour into a jug, wash the vessels in hottish water, dry thoroughly - then reuse the vessels with the melted wax in the jug - adding more wax and microwaving so that you have enough.

Thanks Laurie . Will give it a go!

Wow, what a lovely idea.

Will it work in paper cupcake thingies?

I was thinking I could maybe make candles, and just tear the paper off after?

I can't see that working as a candle QS as soy melts at such a low temperature - like the wax tarts you buy so it will just melt into a rather pretty puddly mess but you could make wax tarts with it. I've not tried making tarts as they're usually so cheap but you have just given me a fab idea so thanks!

Or you could use paraffin wax, burns at higher temperature and that's what most candles you buy in the shops is made off. There are tons of youtube vids for paraffin candles. It looks a bit more dangerous as it could catch fire in a microwave apparently.

oh I like this thread.

I made some candles last year using up a huge scented square candle that had burned weirdly.

Anyway - my question is; how did you manage to keep the wick dead centre to the middle of the cup? I really struggled with this as it moved around, despite me sticking the bottom metal thingy to the bottom of the glass.

thanks

Jax - you used waxed wicks with the sustainers on the end - and roll the waxed bit over the top of a pencil and balance the pencil on the top of the vessel. That way you get it right in the middle. It's also then easier to use 2 waxed wicks on slightly larger vessels.

ah thanks Laurie. will have another shot at candle making soon.

Dunno if this pic will work, I made these last weekend, but they have almost no smell. May try lighting and adding more essential oils when they are liquid again.

www.flickr.com/photos/scotmitchy/6318450436/in/photostream

I was inspired by this thread to make some candles too.

Please can someone tell me why there is no smell from my candles even though I have used essential oils?

They look fab, made one in a wine glass, one in a cup and one in a jam jar but I can't smell them

Any ideas?

You need to use a high percentage of oil - I've been using as much as 10% for really strong ones.

And you dont 'cook' the oil in with the wax when you melt it, you stir it in at the end.

Million thanks for this thread Lauriefairycake.

My soy wax. Just arrived and I've cobbled together my first candle in an old 200ml Nutella jar. Used some old citronella and cedarwood oils.

Got the stuff from Fullmoon Cauldron; v quick and it was easynto alter my order. Have ordered oils from Oils4life, hopefullynhear vsoon.

Will let younknow how the candle goes.

A million thanks for everyone's top tips

Thanks Laurie and everyone on this thread. Just marking my place in case I lose the book mark again. Hope the Christmas presents went down a treat.

Just wanted to say I was totally inspired by this thread and made some lovely candles for friends and family this Christmas. If the feedback's good then thinking I might start selling some (I make and sell jewellery already so hope the two might compliment each other in some way?) I've loved making them and just wanted to say thanks!

I've been watching this thread-I was hoping to get round to making some for christmas but ran out of time so now I want to make some for ME! (plus everyone will prob get them for their birthdays this year!!!)
I'd like to make some big ones (as I know that i'll never get round to refilling very often!) What would be best to make them in? I'm thinking the large yankee candle type size. Where can I get decent good priced jars from? Also has anyoen bought all the bits and pieces recently and if so where was cheapest?
Lastly-what are really amazing combinations? I prefer more fruity ones I think....and also ones that remind me of lovely holidays-tropical type smells....
I'm so excited about doing this

weird-it's blanked half my message!? I also asked about great smell combinations...I like fruity, tropical holiday memory type smells best but happy to try any great one!
Very excited!

Well I made Christmas scent (Pine, Eucalyptus, Cinnamon and Apple), Lime & Mandarin and Cinnamon & Apple. Also made a Spiced Lime (Lime, Clove, Nutmeg & Ginger) but they were gross and I binned them. One of the problems I found was that with buying essential oils and scents online you need to really use your imagination about how things smell and I made a few mistakes. What I hoped would be warm and spicy (clover, ginger & nutmeg) were just musky and horrible. I think if you buy scent oils it might be easier (the apple is a scent oil) as someone's already done all the blending but with essential oils It seems there's quite a lot of skill involved and I'm not sure how you achieve that? (Aromatherapy course maybe??)