First of all I looked up how to do it on Pinterest. This is one of my favourite sites ever because it's just far superior to Tumblr (which I may be too old and uncool to understand). Pinterest and its creative users suggested getting wax flakes, a glue gun, wax crayons of varying colours and pre-waxed wicks (the freestanding kind, not the in-a-windy-ball kind) in varying lengths.
And that's exactly what I did. I went to my local Hobbycraft (other craft stores are available) and purchased these essentials just to trial the process.
I also bought some essential oils from Holland and Barratt - this was great as they were doing the Penny Sale and the oils were on the sale. The woman behind the till seemed very excited about it.
Here is the initial selection of fragrances.
My instructions are according to Pinterest, websites, and my own trial. So here goes.
Step One: Measure out your wax
All tutorials on making your own candles suggest to use double the amount of wax to the size of the container that you have.
Mixer glasses - 4 for £1.50 in Tesco.
Wax ready to go!
Step Two: Getting your container ready
Whatever you're putting your candle in, make sure it's clean and then stick your wick in it. You can use wax to hold your wick in place, but I read that you can also glue it to the container using a glue gun, so I did this. The glue gun I got was on sale in Hobbycraft and it was also pink, so why not?
Lots of tutorials recommend holding your wick in place with pens, skewers or even chopsticks. This wick was slightly too short to be held in place with implements, but it was very sturdy so it did not matter.
My Hobbycraft glue gun - £5 on sale. Came with two glue sticks which seem to be lasting pretty well at the moment so I'm happy.
Step Three: Melting the wax flakes
In the same way you'd melt chocolate, melt your wax in a glass container of some description over a pan of boiling water. This takes a little while and the water can splash out of the pan. I have seen other tutorials suggesting that you use a microwave to heat your wax - perhaps if you're a little impatient you could try it (but I haven't done this myself yet so I'm scared to suggest others do it!).
Melting the wax ...
To melt the wax, I have been stirring using a wooden spoon and when the leftover wax cools on the spoon, scraping the remnants back into the wax mixture.
One the wax starts melting, stir regularly until it becomes liquefied.
Step Four: Adding colour
If you want to add colour to your candles in an easy and inexpensive way, tutorials were recommending using crayons. I bought a pack in a pound shop as I knew I was going to cut them up. Add a little at a time - if you want a more intense colour, add quite a few chunks as the colour will be lighter when the wax cools. At the moment, I don't see any need to use a whole crayon for one candle, but maybe if you're making a big one that needs an intense colour it could be an option.
Take a little bit at a time...
Add to the mixture. Keep adding little chunks for a more intense colour.
Step Five: Adding scent (essential oils)
As time goes on, I will experiment with other means of making scented candles. For now, I am using easy methods and sticking with essential oils until I crack the perfect method for what I want.
Tutorials were recommending different things, so I decided to just experiment. For this particular candle, I added 12 drops of lavender oil. I liked the intensity of the scent in the mixture so felt this was adequate. I may add a little more in future as, when burning, the smell was quite subtle.
Step Six: Pouring
Sounds straightforward, and in fairness it is. When your mixture is entirely melted, the colour is right and the scent is good, pour your wax into your desired container. If you are using tools to hold your wick in place, make sure it is central to the container before pouring. If you are not holding the wick in place with anything in particular, pour the wax and ensure the wick is straight after adding the mixture.
Step Seven: Decorating your container
I wanted to decorate my container so I opted for some lace-style ribbon, decorative roses and little tags to write on. On each tag I write the scent and the date on which the candle was made.
The finished product!
Step Eight: Light!
Of course, candles are made to be lit. Here is this particular one in action.
Lavender scented candle in action.
Some random things I faced while making candles (and maybe how to solve them):
Sink hole-style craters in your candles around the wick as it cools
Apparently, this is fairly normal, and the solution to this is to not fill your container entirely with wax at first. Keep some aside, reheat once the candle is set and pour the remaining wax on top to even it out. Some wax is, according to the internet, "one-pour wax" and shouldn't have this problem, but other wax needs a top-up to make it not look like the surface of the moon.
Random white spots in the candle because I left it to cool in the sun
Yes, this also happened. I don't really know why (probably because of Science). I feel this is because I left it to cool in direct sunlight and so I am blaming that for now. When I made the practice candles, I made them at night and they cooled overnight. This one was made in the morning and left to cool during the day in my south-facing kitchen. I plan to avoid this in future because I'm not sure people will like candles that look a little bit unwell.
And that is really it. I am also playing around with using glitter to decorate candles. Results of that experiment to follow!
No comments:
Post a Comment