How to Make Candles at Home: 4 Tips for Making DIY Candles

Making your own candles at home is a relatively simple process that you can do with a few basic household items. Here are the basic candle-making supplies you'll need to make your own candles at home.

• Containers: You can use any heat-proof container—typically made of ceramic or glass—as the vessel for your candle. Consider a glass mason jar, a recycled candle container, or an empty jar of pasta sauce.
  
• Candlewick supplies: Buy pre-waxed candle wicks for your candles to make sure that the wick burns property. You will also need hot glue or super glue to attach the bottom of the wick to your container. Make sure you have masking tape on hand to level the wick at the top of your container.
• Wax: You can melt soy wax flakes, paraffin wax, or beeswax to create your candle.
• Cooking supplies: You can make your candles with a few common kitchen supplies, like a saucepan, heat-resistant glass bowl, or large heat-proof pitcher. You will also need a large cooking pot to use as a double boiler in order to melt your wax. Use a wooden mixing spoon to mix your wax as it melts. You should also have a digital scale on hand to make sure that you’re measuring the proper amount of wax. Use a candy thermometer to check the temperature of your wax. Be sure to use cooking tools that you no longer want to use for preparing food, as they will be coated with wax after.
• Paper towels: Have a full roll of paper towels on hand for clean-up.

Once you know how to make your own DIY candles, you can make plenty for a fraction of the price you would pay at the store. Follow this easy step-by-step tutorial to make your own candles at home.

1. 1. Choose your container. Choose the container you will want to use as a vessel for your homemade candle. Thoroughly wash the container and leave it to dry while you prepare your other elements. If you’re using an old candle container, you can dip it in a pot of simmering water to remove any wax that has stuck around.
2. 2. Figure out how much wax you need. Fill your chosen container with water up to the level where you want your wax to reach, then pour the water into a measuring cup. This is the amount of wax that you will need to pour into your candle.
3. 3. Measure your wicks. Measure how much wick you'll need for your candle by placing the full wick in your container. Make a mark on the wick that measures about a ¼ inch above the wax line.
   
4. 4. Prepare your wax. For every fluid ounce of water you have measured in your container, you will need 1 ounce of wax. Use your digital scale to measure that amount.
5. 5. Melt your wax. Boil water in your double-boiler cooking pot. Fill your pitcher, saucepan, or heatproof bowl with the correct amount of wax. If you’re using a pitcher or saucepan, you can place it directly in the boiling water. If you’re using a heatproof bowl, sit it just above the boiling water. Allow the wax to melt, stirring it with a wooden spoon as you go.
6. 6. Prepare the wick. Place a small amount of hot glue or super glue in the center of the bottom of your candle container. Stick the end of your wick in the glue. Make a hole in the masking tape, and feed the top of the wick through it. Stick the sides of the masking tape to the top of the container to keep the wick upright as you pour.
7. 7. Add fragrance, if you like. To make scented candles, add fragrance oils or essential oils to the melted wax just before you pour. Use 1 ounce of oil for every pound of wax.
8. 8. Pour the wax into your container. When the temperature of the wax is 120 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit—which you can check with your candy thermometer— it is ready to pour. Gently pour your wax into the container, making sure to keep the wick balanced upright in the wax. Pour slowly to avoid air bubbles. Let the wax cool for at least 24 hours, and your candle will be ready to burn.

Before you get started, here are a few tips to follow if you’re making candles at home.

1. 1. Clean your workspace up quickly. After you’ve made your candles, make sure to clean your tools and workspace up while the wax is still liquid. Use a paper towel to wipe up any hot wax off of your countertops and utensils before you wash them. Applying water to melting wax can harden the wax and make it harder to clean.
2. 2. Burn your candles to even them out. Allow your candle to burn long enough so that the top layer of wax becomes liquid. When you’re using soy wax to make candles, it is important to consider how the initial burn times will affect the candle. If you leave a candle burning for too short of a time, only the wax in the center of your candle will melt which will create a hole in the center of your candle.
3. 3. Trim your wick as you go. As your candle burns down, continue to trim the wick down to just above the wax line to prevent it from smoking.
4. 4. Add scent with fragrance oils or essential oils. Adding some essential oils or fragrance oils to your candles can give your candles a pleasing fragrance. If you’re going for a stronger aroma, consider fragrance oils over essential oils, because these will make the scent more prominent.

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