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

Glad I refound this one.

This is the year of the candle for me. Looking at wicks, if I buy a length can I just cut and use? Do I need to do anything to the wick?

Also pomegranate noir - what's the fragrance I should buy?

Thanks.

You're supposed to prime wicks, which just involves dipping them in melted wax.

For basic candles in jars, which we use a lot and DH makes all the time, he just puts a standard white household candle down the middle. Far simpler than dealing with wicks. But they do look a bit odd until the white candle has burned down to the level of the rest of the wax. If it's for a gift, he cuts the candle to the right length first.

I ended up buying a selection of wicks with sustainers.
the candle in the container sounds interesting!

Bumping an old thread here with a question.

How do I secure a wick (in the metal holder) to the bottom of a teacup, please? I don't want to use superglue as I want to re-use the teacup for other candles but blue tack is rubbish and the metal wick holder was just floating in the wax

I haven't made any yet but I read somewhere a dab of glue from a glue gun.

I don't have a glue gun but got a box of glue dots from the pound shop and hoping that will work.

glue dots didn't work. ended up using some melted wax. they are cooling so will know if it works tomorrow.

Try long and ward candles.
They do nearly all the posh fragrances.
They smell identical and last over 40 hours at half the price.

Come in beautiful boxes too.

Is there any actual shop where I could go and sniff actual fragrances for candle-making? I'm super-fussy about smells, and don't want to spend money online on smells I may not like.

Really pleased to see this thread resurrected. This is probably a stupid question, but other than not having to bother with a wick (and using a mould rather than pouring into a permanent container) would you modify the recipe at all for making wax melts as opposed to candles? I have a Yankee burner and like some of the tarts/melts available, but some seem a bit synthetic. Would like to be able to experiment, maybe using a cupcake silicone mould?

I started about a year ago making candles...and they are going great guns!
I also make melts (the Americans call them tarts) and they are sooo strong but in a very nice way! You can put the melts in a burner and they fragrance the whole house...no nasty paraffin here...just pure soy wax and my friend has trouble with bronchial issues and can use them! Sooo happy. I am now making diffusers and room sprays to add to the collection......

So lovely to read this. Thank you OP and good luck with continuing this.

Wow. I think this is the best zombie thread ever to pop up in active convos.

I am so glad I found it!

Thanks Laurie. I'm sure the karma gods or whoever have decided I neeeeeed to make candles would be rude not to now surely.

Agreed. Excited to try this !

Clangermum - you can make wax melts in something like this. You can use essential oils on their own if you don't like the synthetic scents, but let the wax cool a bit before adding them, or they will lose some of their effectiveness.

Laurie said she didn't bother with blue dots in the end, just used a peg I think to secure.
Can anyone tell my why you should not reuse wicks please? I have some old unused candles I want to use and don't understand why I shouldn't us the wicks?

Use!

Hi I've just joined and looking for a new hobby, seen some really old messages from lauriefairycake for candle making are any of you ladies still out there?

I made some last year Kitty, still have half a bag of soy wax and everything else I need. Came to remind myself of how to do it on this thread.

Think I am going to use the free cups and saucers you get with Hendricks, seem to have a few of them .

For me though, not gifts.

I finally got round to this today, four candles setting right now.

Would be really interested to learn of everyone's favourite winter scents as I could do with buying some more.

Ooh I'm definitely going to have a look at doing this!!!

It is really easy bugsy. I use soy wax, melt it in my bain marie, add fragrance when it is almost melted (not sure how much, I just add it until it smells). I manage to get the wicks to stand up without sticking them, not sure how.

Pour in the wax, rearrange the wick and leave it to set!

Anyone got an up to date link for a good place to buy oils and wax etc?

I love this thread!

I buy my wax from Amazon

www.amazon.co.uk/Eco-Soya-Container-Candle-Flakes/dp/B00A78IMVY/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1445413901&sr=8-9&keywords=soy+wax+candle

and have bought oils from here

www.scentperfique.co.uk/index.asp

I made sure I bought those labelled 'cosmetic grade', not sure why to be honest! I am definitely making it up as I go along!

Thanks lavender - that place for oils sells it by the gram not by the ml - or am I being thick?

It does look like it is sold in grams but it is a liquid in a bottle, I just checked my inbox and I bought 100g in 2013, I reckon that has made 12-15 medium sized candles, those glass things the size of a small mug.