This is one of my absolute favorite things to make. I burn candles EVERY day. I decided to learn to make my own and went the soy wax route. It’s so much cleaner and longer lasting. Here are the supplies you will need:

• A Double Boiler or Wax Melter
• Soy wax
• A Wooden Spoon
• Votive Holders
• Glue Gun
• Candy Thermometer
• Fragrance (Optional)
• Dye (Optional)
• Votive Wicks

 First you want to prep your candle holders so they are all set to go when your wax is melted, (and dyed and fragranced if you like). Typically I use votive holders and buy wicks that are  made for votive size. You want to be sure you are using the appropriate wick for the size candle you are making if you want your candle to burn properly. You can buy pre tabbed wicks or untabbed. To make life easier I recommend buying tabbed wicks. You can use glue dots to attach your wicks into the bottom of your candle holder or a glue gun, which is the method I use.   Here is a picture of a tri wicked star candle all prepped and ready for some soy wax.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to candle making. You can get very creative, make your candles all sizes, colors and scents. Candle making is really an area of crafting that you can get extremely creative with.  They always make great gifts, everyone loves candles and the fact that it’s home made makes it all the better. Don’t forget to embellish your candle holders, I love to glue ribbons and lace and all sorts of things around my candle holders.

Now that you have prepped your candle holders, time to make the candles!

I highly recommend using the double boiler method to melt your soy wax. It’s the safest and easiest and least expensive! This tutorial will be specifically for the double boiler method but it will give you the gist of what you need to do regardless. The double boiler you see in the picture above I got super cheap on Amazon and I LOVE it. You can check it out here Granite Ware 6150-4 1.5-Quart Double Boiler. It’s works beautifully for me and gets a lot of use so it’s really stood up well. 

Put a little water into the bottom boiler. Do not fill it high enough so that the  bottom of the top boiler gets wet when you place it on top of the bottom boiler. This will cause scorching and water to boil over, but not adding enough water will scorch the bottom boiler.

Make sure you have clipped on a Candy Thermometer or a Candle Making Thermometer to your double boiler so that you can monitor the temperature. You want to make sure that the temperature is around 175 at it’s highest point, do not let it go much past this point. You can get the thermometer I use and love here: Yaley Candlemaking Thermometer.

Now you can pour in your soy wax!  To add in my soy flakes I use a measuring cup, as you can see in the picture above,  that I use specifically for candle making . Use a wooden spoon to stir your soy wax around to help the melting process. I recommend getting your soy wax in flakes, these melt very quickly. I always get mine from Amazon.  I buy my soy wax in 5 pound bags.  What I love about this is that you can get as many 5 pound bags  as you want and the shipping always stays at just $5.49. It’s the best deal I have found for soy wax flakes. You can check that out here. Natural Soy 444 Wax: 5 pound bag. 

 Want to add some color to your candles? Once the soy wax flakes are fully melted and the temperature has hit 175 degrees, go ahead and add your dye! You can use liquid drops made for candle making or as you can see in the first picture, you can get your dye in blocks. If you choose that route, its best to just shave off pieces of the dye from the blocks, tossing in a whole dye block would take forever to melt and it would cause your wax temperature to rise much higher than you want it to.  Stir your dye in until its fully dissolved and keep in mind that to deeply color soy candles you need A LOT of dye! More than you would need making paraffin candles, etcetera. To test the color a good method is to let your wooden spoon drip a bit of the colored wax onto a paper towel to see what color it is. That way you can add more if needed for the desired look.

You can now remove your double boiler from the burner. Be sure to use a pot holder to grab the handle of the double boiler as its going to be HOT. Be sure to remove the top boiler from the bottom boiler, just place them both on separate burners.

Now you can add your fragrance if you like! Soy wax has a very nice throw back scent. A good rule is to use 1.5 oz of fragrance per pound of soy wax but I am not too particular about that, I just add my fragrance until its to the strength I want.  You don’t want to add TOO much however, if you do, the oil tends to bead up at the surface of your candle when you are burning it. Be sure to stir in your fragrance well.

Once the temperature has dropped down to about 150 degrees, go ahead and carefully pour your wax into your candle holders! Your wicks might tend to fall to the side. I like to use something to prop my wicks up so that they stay center. A good way to do this is to use a paper clip, just unbend it so its straight and lay it on top of your candle holder to keep the wick from falling and keep it center. Any slim wire will work just fine, nothing too thick though as its going to make the candle dry odd over that spot if its covered too much. You can also wait until your candle starts to set a bit and then pull the wick into the center, this is less ideal as you have to have your timing right but it will work in a pinch. There are other methods that can be found for keeping the candle wicks straight as a candle is setting but these are just some of the methods I have used that work well for me, just find out what works best for you.

I have personally found that soy candles seem to set quite quickly. Here are some of the soy candles I made today that had only been setting for about a half hour:

Once they are fully set, just trim the wicks if they are too high. I had to trim the wicks on my tri star candle as they were too long. You don’t want to trim them too short however or your candle will just snuff out as its burning.

That’s it, now you can go get creative with decorating your candle holders if you like, gift it, or go and enjoy it yourself!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful and I hope it’s inspired you to go make your own candles and get creative with it! If you have any ideas or things to add be sure to leave a comment!

 

 

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