So I made another batch of candles yesterday, and actually remembered to take pictures during the process. So tutorials for everyone!
Candlemaking is really, seriously easy; the most difficult part is breaking up the wax, and you don't even necessarily need to do that (you can buy wax in stores to melt down more easily).
The best thing about candle making is that it's so easy to recycle - just keep old candles after the wick has run out, and you can use the wax to make new ones.
What you need:- Wax of some sort, either from old candles, or wax bought at a craft store
- Wick, which you can buy at a craft store (it doesn't matter what kind)
- A big pot for boiling water in (while water is the only thing that goes in this pot, sometimes some wax splashes over and gets into the water, making the pot very hard to clean. So I wouldn't use my best pot)
- A coffee can to melt the wax in (metal, of course)
- A butter knife you're not married to, if you're using old candles (you'll use it to cut the wax into smaller pieces)
- Pencils
- Containers for putting the candles in (if you're going to remove them, make sure the container has a wider top than bottom)
- Optional - Crayons for coloring
- Optional - fragrance for smelling
- Optional - a funnel for pouring
First, prepare the wax - if you got it from the store and it's already broken up, then you can skip this step. If you're using old candles, you'll want to cut them into smaller chunks and remove the old wicks. Put the broken up wax into the coffee can.
After you've got all your wax in the can, you'll want to put water in the big pot. I only had about two or three inches of water, but you'll basically want enough to melt wax but not so much that the coffee can is floating around too much. If you're adding fragrance or color, do so now - I generally just add them until it smells/looks like I want it to.
Put coffee can inside the pot and put it on the stove on medium heat until the wax is melted.
Meanwhile, prepare the containers. Take the wick and pencil, and tie the wick around the pencil and measure it out so the wick will reach the bottom of the container. Cut to that length.
Once the wax is melted, you're going to pour the wax into the containers. I use a funnel to pour the wax into the containers, but you can just pour it directly, just be careful. You can either pour it under the pencil or put the pencil/wick in after it's been poured.
Wait for the wax to harden a bit, about twenty minutes, and then cut the wick and remove the pencil. Let the wax cool at least overnight. Remove from container if you wanted to do that.
Enjoy!
