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

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

I'll have a go at photos later on - they are looking nice, I love the colour of the soy wax as it is. The house smells lovely - we've done orange and lime and I also got an Ayuvedic oil blend to 'clear the mind' apparantly - smells good though .

[you]

Alright, screw waiting for my birthday, if everyone else is having a go so am I! Thant's what child tax credits are there for right?

Am so excited, will buy all my stuff tomorrow and go vessel hunting on the weekend! I really hope it's as easy as you're all making it out to be and i don't end up with 5kg of melted snowman shaped wax

[you]

Oh and completely off topic, do you live in St Albans then? I lived there up till last year when DH decided to finish his phd in crappy Leicester. I miss St Albans so much!

[funnypeculiar]

Ooohhh, these look beautiful - what a fab idea Laurie
Marking my place as we're off on hols soon, so won't get a chance to play about for a while.

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

they are dead easy to make but I guess the proof is in the burning and I am too scared to do a test burn as they are currently all allocated to the dd's teachers etc!

[LaurieFairyCake]

I live in Hemel Hempstead - love St Albans though. Leicester is a bit horrid, nice currys though. I visit friends up there at the uni.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Shall I send you a waffle from the waffle Mill next time I go to St Albans

[fishie]

laurie a very many years ago i used to make and sell candles and that put me right off them. i had no idea re this soya stuff, it really is a revolution! you are a visionary hooray.

oh freezing winter days with stearin and paraffin and broken heart....

[Bumperslucious]

Thanks for the reply to my post. What wicks did you buy? Not that I am looking at that site or anything...purely for informational purposes

[you]

Ah the waffle mill...

[LaurieFairyCake]

I bought the MP 10 100mm wicks, the second one on that page which says NEW SIZE

[NothingToSeeHere]

ooo ooo advice please???

I put some large church candles in my conservatory last winter, and of course after this summer they now resemble nothing as much as greasy dollops of melted smush on my window ledges.

What's the best way to melt them down, do you think, and could I re-use the wicks or buy new ones? I've no idea if the candles were paraffin or not. But they were big, so I wasted a great deal of wax letting them melt like that. Doh.

Very excited at the Gu glass jar suggestion as I have LOADS of those.

[LaurieFairyCake]

You can reuse them - I've seen a video on youtube of someone doing that. You will need new wicks though. They will be paraffin so get very, very hot - I'd be too scared to put them in the microwave but you could double boil them, just keep an eye on them.

[NothingToSeeHere]

thanks!

[HolyGuacamole]

Oh Laurie, am so excited. The delivery arrived, woohoo!! Am visiting MIL tonight so hopefully can have one made for her as a wee gift I am going to try your amber/lavender and lime/fig!

Wish me luck!

And thank you for the inspiration, this is great fun! Will let you know how it goes

[LaurieFairyCake]

Isn't that fantastic delivery! Go luck HG

[expatinscotland]

i got mine today, too! just sent you an email to say it's been received and thanks and some feedback.

wow!

the scent is very subtle, but still strong enough to waft through a room.

excellent quality!

burned mine for 2 hours today and will trim wick again and burn for another hour daily.

no sputtering, smokiness, just a great candle!

[LaurieFairyCake]

Yep, emailed you back - thanks so much for that

[Bleatblurt]

I spent yesterday and today hunting around charity shops for lovely teacups so I could be a copycat makes some but someone has clearly been there before me and not a pretty cup was to be found!! I looked in 20+ shops!

DH suggested I use my expensive ones.
I don't care if I never use them, they are there to look pretty.

[Yorky]

Have had a lovely time reading this thread and loving the photos and ideas and smells.

Seeing as the soy wax has such a low melting point would you let DCs help make them?

And last year I got some glass paints and wrote Happy Christmas on bought candles in jars, would be easier to do on ikea jars and then fill with lovely smelly wax. Very simple and not as fiddly as I though they would be

[LaurieFairyCake]

Yorky - I would let dc's help with everything apart from the pouring into the cups. I let dd do it yesterday but she's 11. The wax is still really hot even at 47 degrees so I'm sure you can still burn yourself.

You are right, it would be even nicer to do homemade candles in glass jars

I'm going to be making some Christmas candles soon, I've ordered a load of Orange/Cinnamon/Bayberry oils.

I've also had the cups I bought from ebay turn up and they are gorgeous so I'm going to spend some happy time today making even more today.

One of the cups I bought was a dainty porcelain hand-painted cup and saucer from 1800 - it's so utterly beautiful I couldn't bear to give it away so I'm going to make one just for my bedside table.

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

freaky, I did so well on monday looking for cups but today I went to another 5 and there was nothing worth having. I reckon if I can face it, jumble sales might be the way to go.

[LePlopperFantome]

Oh oh oh I made some! It was fun!

Will put some photos up.

The wicks I got were to small though, so I had to improvise.

[LaurieFairyCake]

ooooooooh fab, can't wait to see

[expatinscotland]

Oh my second day of burning Laurie's candle.

Scent still very strong.

Wick trimmed nicely with nail scissors.