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, expat

I wonder if there's any way of me being able to tell how long they burn for. I have been burning a jar for 10 hours so far (two thirds gone-ish)and those Ikea jars are I think 200ml. It's very hard to tell how each individual teacup burns but I suppose I could just say that they burn approx 15 hours.

I think Yankee overestimate burning time - their big housewarmer jars are 90 hours and I'm sure I've only ever had about 40 hours out of them - clearly I live in a hurricane

Your candle is still burning here too Laurie.

Even when its not lit you can smell it when you walk into the lounge. Tis lovely.

Think my photos are up now.

I got the wrong sized wicks so had to use smaller containers. I did two coloured ones and used orange and basil to flavour, which smells nicer than it sounds and two natural coloured, magnolia flavour.

I used soy wax so did it all in the microwave.

Gah, need to sort profile out.

i am making one atm, how long does it take for it to cool down [impatient]

thanks for this thread laurie

about 2 hours fully - you can speed it up by putting it in the fridge apparently but I would be wary of it shrinking from the sides of the cup

OOOOOOOOH they look great Plopper !!! what lovely pics

I left mine on the side for about 2 hours.

[runs and takes out of fridge]

thanks

They look great PP.

My camera is broken . Will try to take some pics on my phone but my computer doesn't always recognise it to upload...

How do you all warm the jars? I've been putting boiling water in a roasting dish and sitting the jars in that (like a bain marie but not putting it in the oven) but some of my metal ones are v lightweight and shallow so don't think that will work.

why do you warm the jars [slapdash emoticon]

I didn't bother warming mine, too impatient.

Laurie I am loving your candle thread they look amazing - can anyone direct me to where the components of oil you add are listed as I can't find it - i.e how many drops of oil to add per candle?

Oh and do you still need any samplers???

It's meant to stop the candle shrinking around the sides I think

Those are lovely plopper!! Very nice!

I made some votives, some are baby powder scented and this morning I tried the fig and lime......gorgeous!

I saw Ikea have little shot glasses, 6 for 99p, I wonder how those would look. Might pop in at the weekend and check them out.

mine is ready. it is too pretty to light!

I think Laurie said hers are 10% oil so I have been roughly following that and they are strong smelling, I used 10ml of scent per 4oz of wax.

VFVPAUC and clairey - I warm the jars in the microwave with a little water in them and then dry thoroughly - this is to stop the coldness of the jars suddenly shrinking the wax so it comes away from the sides of the jar - I actually don't think it's as necessary in this weather as it's so warm. I bet come time to make my Christmas candles it will be.

Crush - I am using 10% fragrance oil so I am melting in a Pyrex measuring jug til I get 300ml of wax and then adding a 30ml fragrance oil (from the site I recommended in my second post) plus 15-20 drops of essential oil. As the 30ml fragrance oil is the 10% the essential oil isn't really necessary - I just like it.

I've also made some aromatherapy ones where I've used only essential oils and this is much more expensive as those titchy 10ml bottles were 3 quid each in a health food shop - I've used slightly less of those and they seem to be ok.

I just bought a Sadler Ginger Jar from a charity shop for £4 - it's going to take a lot of oil to fill it but I think Ginger and Cinnamon would be a lovely Christmassy scent for it.

I've just uploaded pics of the ones I have done today (sadly it means the others on there have disappeared so I think you can only have a few pictures).

There is a cup with a little thatched cottage on - I have six of those and they are filled with Violet and Lime

And there is 2 art deco style Rennie Macintosh cups which have Basil/Herb and Black Pepper in.

And then a titchy 2 inch German porcelain cup (I have a pair of those) with more Violet and Lime in.

I've become a bit obsessed, I'm wandering around the house trying to find things to fill with wax!

Ginger and cinnamon sounds nice.

I haven't tried adding any essential oils yet, will try that next.

wow they are lovely! will definately try myself....

Laurie, love the Mackintosh ones. Honestly, you should sell yours in the cups, they are so nice!

I think last year I only put about 15-20 drops of each essential oil in...they weren't really strong but smelt lovely when burning. This year I might do a bit stronger...

Each batch did me 4 of those gu pots (approx 100ml each) so 5 drops of oil per candle

I want those art deco ones Laurie!