Diy candle making

Fancy learning how to make magical candles with the minimum of fuss and stuff? You have come to the right place my friend! I like to keep things simple and when trying something new I don’t want to have to buy loads of expensive stuff either.

I went to a charity shop to find a second hand saucepan that I could melt that wax in as years of working as a waitress taught me that getting wax of anything was a job and a half. I wanted something that I could dedicate to the task and I didn’t want to buy something fancy and new.

Whilst chatting to a sales lady about what I was looking for she told me that she had used a casserole dish for making candles and would use the heat in that was left in the oven from baking to melt her wax with.

For the wax I bought some soy wax on eBay and some candle wicks. Now, I didn’t realise quite how short these ones would be so pay attention to length when ordering! The ones I have are really good for shallow dishes though and they burn quite nicely that way.

Anyway, I used some glass dishes that originally had some yummy chocolate dessert in! They are a fab size for candles and eating a few puddings certainly wouldn’t be the worst way to get started. 

I poured in some of the flakes into the dish and left the heat on low. When some of the wax is melted you can just dip the end of the wick base into the wax and then use that to stick it into your jar or whatever you are using.

You can use essential oils to fragrance your candles and so this is a chance to get creative and make some magical blends! I had some rosemary drying in my cottage and so I put that in with the melting oil as well as 15 drops of lavender. 

You can use dried flowers and even crystals to decorate your candles and make them more intentional if you want them for spell work or simply to mark the season.

Once all the wax is melted it’s a good idea to wait for a few minutes before pouring because if it’s too hot it will melt the wax you used to fix the wick with and it can then start to go a bit wonky. Nobody likes a wonky wick.

To pour the wax into the jars you can use a simple metal ladle to scoop it up. I have a dedicated candle ladle now because wax is hard to get off things and less scraping is good.

If you bought longer wicks then you will need a system to keep the wick in place while the wax is setting. I have seen people recommend pegs for this, but maybe a couple of pencils and some blue tack or tape would work too. I’m sure there is an official item that would do the job, but when starting I think it’s good to use what you already have.