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

Thanks plipplops-I was worrying how'd I'd get them smelling nice.....would love other tried and tested suggestions!

Oh dear me-I have just spent all day trying to figure this all out and find a good price.......I've ended up spending way more than I wanted and i'm not even sure i've got it right! I got very confused with wicks-seeing as I haven't got containers yet-I'm going to be searching for the right diameter containers everywhere now seeing as I have 100wicks coming whoops! My head and eyes are spinning......I really hope I haven't just wasted all that time and money.......

Just reviving this thread to ask a question about wicks - they are making my head hurt . I have bought what I hope is the right size of wick, but I need to prime it as it's just on a roll - can I use soy wax to prime, or do I need to use paraffin wax? I can lop a bit off a massive candle to use if I need paraffin but just wondered...

TIA

what do you all use to melt the wax in? do you just st up a ban marie with an old pan?

I melt the soy wax chips in the microwave, but you can do it in a bain marie - just don't melt them directly over a heat source in the pan!

Thanks! I have paraffin wax and beeswax to use as a hardener. Is there anything you can do to prevent the wax reachign the flash point and ending up with a big firey, burney mess?

You need to do paraffin in a double boiler so it doesn't reach flashing point - don't use a microwave.

Hi Emjay,you need to use the same wax as you are using fro your candle.eg.if you are using soy wax to make your candle you need to prime your wick with soy wax,but it is so much easier to buy them ready primed.Fullmoons-cauldron also do multi purpose wicks suitable for any type of wax.Hope this helps.

Hi Laurie Fairy Cake

What a magnificent thread :o)

Discovered about eleventy-million years after everyone else ;o)

I notice that your last post mentions a company called Bloom. Have googled and not found it so far.

Can you possibly post a link?

Thanks so much, Helen

Hi there Laurie
I have tried emailing you regards candle hel p but the email you put up in the thread dosbt work.. this is the email I used.
[email protected]
If this is no longer your email please email me as I have many questions and would love to chat with you. My email is [email protected]

Dawn x

I was browsing the web for candle making tips etc and came across your netmums conversation from way back. I wasnt able to view all as im not a member but have now joined. Obviously:-)
I am over the next few weeks wanting to make candle s of the scented kind, I like you love the very highest scented ones. I want to make for gifts and my own home, ive brought candle holders to use as the jars and I also have some old candles and crayons for colour,I have wicks but no scents.
I brought paraffin wax as didnt know about soy wax. Can you please tell ne the best place to get the soy wax at good price? as I paid £6 for paraffin wax from ebay and around £2 for 20 pre waxes wicks. I am struggling with the smells as I have no idea whay to use and where to buy. Can you please help? As yours sounded lovely.
My questions are
Best and cheapest place to buy soy wax
Best smells and where to buy from at best price
How much wax should I buy

Thanks

X

Thank you. Can you tell me where you get your oils from as this is what i am having the most trouble with and also havnt got a clue on the nicest smells or if to use fragrance oil or essential oils???.. I also dont have a clue on what wicks to buy?. I am mainly aiming to make tea light size and my other jars are of a size around 5 inch deep. I have ordered 5cm and 5inch pre waxex cotton wicks so far so hope they will be ok?.

The wick needs to vary in thickness with the diameter of the candle - fatter candles need thicker wicks.

Candle makers' supplies in London sell all thicknesses of wicks, and, from memory, candle perfumes, dyes etc.

Please remember that if you drop molten wax on the skin - eg back of the hand, it can burn down to the bone as it sticks and the skin underneath can't cool down.

A very cheap candle mould is the white plastic sort of washing up liquid bottle - about 40p from Sainsbury's/Waitrose. You heat a metal skewer in a gas flame, and pierce the bottom to make a hole in the centre for the wick. You then cut the top off, and make 2 holes opposite to put a skewer through, and the skewer passes through the wick about an inch from the end. The end through the bottom is then pulled fairly tight. It can then be sealed with a little mould seal to stop wax leaking out. You can get little metal things - like the ones in the bottom of a tea light, but tbh we never bothered with them when we were making candles at home (over 30 years ago).

You need to be fairly careful with powdered dyes - they are very strong, and we had a wooden chopping board with one corner a fetching shade of cyclamen pink. It never came off.

Also, as the wax cools it will shrink down - it's higher at the edges, and peaks up a little around the wick. You need to keep breaking the skin as it forms and topping up with more molten wax until you have the height you want (and dh wonders why I'm an inveterate playing with wax on candles in restaurants). If you let the wax get cold, you'll get lines on the outside of the candle - could be part of a design, maybe not.

Any candle that doesn't look 'right' - cut it up into chunks, and if white pour coloured wax around it, and if coloured surround it with white wax to make a different sort of candle.

Thank you tb. I have sourced some very good fragranceoils, molds and wax but still seem to be struggling with the wicks.. I have been using 5cm pre tab lx12 for tealights which seem good bit when I'm making a sampler size candle I used the 3 inch lx14 and got terrible tunneling:-(. Also some body advised using crayons for colour, I wouldn't recommend as my candles burnt awfully and kept going out.. I have been buying the supplies from ebay as I live in a very small town and the few craft shops there are within 30miles don't sell candle making supplies.

Can you please recommend some wick sizes for tealights and also sampler/small jar candles . X

I have made many candles using the following-

an old metal bowl over a slightly larger saucepan
old glass jars/containers-jars used for food protection have been already heat treated so can withstand heat I have used nutella jars also.
"old" wax mixed with new wax.
Childrens WAX crayons(must be only wax-I used Crayola-99p) bashed up with a rolling pin give great colour and the colours are mixable.
Cheap cotton string can be used for a wick.
wick reused from old melted candles
old wick holders from other used candles
I save so much using the above I don't mind buying good quality fragrance

I would never have tried using glass jars as vessels. do the jam jars ect not smash when the candle is 3/4 burning? .
I had absolutely no successful with crayons, even the good brands. I Use block wax dye now which is cheaper and very good.

I have also been reusing candle holders and also tealight holder's to make new tealights.

It just proves tho that candle making dosnt have to be expensive

It's very easy to make your own candles and wax melts are even easier!!

Www.cheekycherubcandles.blogspot.co.uk for instructions

Laurie, those candles sound really good.

I'm just marking my place so I can order supplies next week.

Great thread-anyone with any current recommended links for scents, wax & wicks please? Would be most greatfully received.

:)

I buy my supplies from thesoapkitchen.co.uk/

I was looking at some websites selling candle making supplies and one of them said the vanilla fragrance oil was not recommended with soy wax. Does anyone know why that might be, and what could be done about it? Or is it just not possible to make vanilla soy candles?

Bumping as I really want to make vanilla soy candles...

Can anyone recommend a high street store that sells wax,wicks etc

Not High Street, but Hobbycraft sell a reasonable range of candlemaking supplies. Or you can buy online.