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 lavender-
Also, that 2.5 kilo bag of wax- how many candles would you say that would make? I've got small/medium glass tumblers...

15 or so I reckon as I have only just bought a second bag and haven't quite used up the first one.

I've bought mine from 4candle....ordered on Sunday, delivered Tuesday.....so far it's excellent!!!!

Loads of helpful advice on their website too

I went for Amazon for wax, and directoils for oils in the end. Haven't arrived yet though so I don't know if it will be any good!

Hi everyone stumbled across this thread last night and keen to give it a go for some Christmas presents and also for me as every morning and evening I burn a candle. Thanks for the inspiration, soy wax and wicks ordered, now to try and decide between all the delicious fragrances... I'll also be using aromatherapy. Any tips for calming scents, apart from Lavender and chamomile?

Bump, in case anyone else is making these for Christmas...

Great thread!

I came across this thread whilst doing a google search.

If I buy a cheap candle from the pound shop, melt it and add fragrance will it smell?

Can't believe this thread is still going

It had fallen off my list and I'd stopped noticing it.

I've carried on making fucktons of candles for the last few years, honing my recipes so now I have 12 really amazing ones. I've got my percentages worked out for every recipe now.

I make really expensive ones with as far as I can organic essential oils. If I can't get organic I downgrade to essential oils. Each candle costs me about £4-£5 to make (white company/diptyque size - about 40 hours burn time) with soy wax, cotton wick, votive, label, essential oil. The oils are most of the cost - about £2 or so just for the oil in each one.

I use fragrance oils (very cheap) for jam jars to have outside as it keeps summer bugs away from eating areas - they are much cheaper to make but are not 'treatment' candles like ones made with essential oils.

Pretty much no company use essential oils now. Even diptyque have fake fragrance, ditto white company, Yankee.

Aromatherapy associates use essential oils (not all are though) so they're definitely treatment candles imo.

I'm considering saving to actually make to sell.

I've already planned my jar colour and design. And I've got my recipes.

But that's for next year as I've got a new job which is taking me away from it 5 days a week.

Laurie you're such an inspiration!

Here's a couple of ones I made this Christmas using advice from this thread

(I've obviously crossed out the names on the stickers)

I made 24 in total and that sorted all the female presents (and a couple of the men). The feedback has been great so far!

I love this thread and my daughter and I have been dabbling for a little while in candle making. The only comment I'd make if you are a beginner and struggling at all with the soy wax, is there are a few myths out there about the environmental facts.
All candle waxes are non-toxic. Food-grade paraffin is approved by the FDA and is used in food and cosmetics. Manufacturers use food-grade paraffin to make their candles. Crude oil (used to make paraffin) is a naturally occurring substance that is found underneath the Earth's surface. It is a decomposition of plants and animals. Both soy wax and paraffin wax are derived from natural substances. These natural substances go through a refining process to create the wax product. Paraffins association to petroleum is false, as it is simply a derivative of crude oil which is a natural resource. Petroleum is also a derivative of crude oil, but paraffin and petroleum are two separate compositions. Soy wax is not any more natural than paraffin wax and often indures more of a chemical process or 'refining' process to get it to the flakes or beads that you buy. Its all a matter of opinion and also a really good excuse to just keep making lovely candles. I will continue to use this lovely thread to see what fantastic scents people are coming up with.

Glad this thread has popped up again! It's on my "to-do" list, and I've been collecting containers for ages.

I have a Hobbycraft voucher burning a hole in my pocket too.

There is a really great candle making forum with loads of good advice it's called takingthewick.co.uk

They are all lovely and really helpful as well

luckiest - those candles look lovely

Can't wait to try this, great thread

Well, in a spare 15 mins waiting for the BT engineer I have just made a whopping 3 wick affair - no idea if three is enough, teetering on putting a fourth one in. 500ml of wax when melted.

Lavender and Amber from the place on Laurie's first link.

here it is - the fish dish was the only thing I could think of that was big enough!

OK, so 500ml soy wax, 25ml lavender, 25ml amber, four wicks and my nostrils are burning.

Ok, that is very strong (but will still be great) - you can always remelt and dilute if it's super strong

Most 'good' candles are about 6% - Yankee is 4 I think.

So you can probably only burn it for a short while if it's super strong - or burn in a hallway to scent the whole house.

But it looks fantastic

Thank you Laurie - I didnt think of remelting. I think I will do that tomorrow, add another 300ml of melted wax, phew it is strong.

It isn't even lit and I have blown out my JM candle as it was being overpowered!

I Love this thread still. Thanks again OP. It's so helpful and nice to hear/see what you're all up to.
I was lucky enough to attend a candle making workshop at Rachael Vospers in Belgravia and I can't recommend it highly enough. Her products are absolutely gorgeous, and she is so willing to help and share her expertise (which is a Lot).

I have a question though, does anyone have any experience of having candle votives made, ie not just with a sticker but either embossed or a graphic of some kind? Close to the selling-for-pleasure stage and would love to sort containers soon. x

Can someone tell me what the difference is between essential oils and fragrance oils when it comes to candle making?

Hi sweetpea fragrance oils are synthetic and essential are natural essential oils are more expensive and can be blended with fragrance oil. This website can explain better www.candleandsoap.about.com
hth

I would love to make candles that smell like Diptique Feu Dr Bois as I am obsessed!

Has anyone found an oil that has the wood smoke smell?

Thanks!