How To Make Candles at Home

Tools and Materials

Before you learn how to make homemade candles, you should prepare these basic things in advance.

Select the type of wax you’d like to use for your project. Soy wax is easy for beginners. Beeswax is eco-friendly and good for nature lovers and paraffin wax is a good option for strong-scented candles.
Keep the area well-ventilated as the scent can be too overwhelming sometimes at the start.

Moving on to the main process of making candles:

Use a double boiler to melt the wax. If you don’t have one, you can use a heat-safe bowl and put it in hot water.
Fill the bottom pot with water up to 1-2 inches and pour the wax on the upper pot. If you are using a heat-safe bowl, put the wax inside the bowl directly.
Keep stirring the wax with a normal spoon or stick to make sure it melts properly and maintain the temperature between 170°F and 185°F, which is the normal melting point for most waxes.
Use a thermometer to check the wax temperature to ensure it maintains the temperature to protect the quality of the wax.

You can choose the fragrance and color of your choice. You can use essential oils for a natural aroma and fragrance oil for a wider variety.

When the wax has completely melted, add fragrance to it. For every pound of wax, use one ounce of fragrance oil or essential oils.
To add color, you can use dye or broken crayons.
Stir well to mix them completely until the color is evenly distributed.
The final color might vary slightly after the candle is ready.

Tip

You can mix various scents that go together.

Wick is the part lit up in the candle and mostly placed at the center, but some container designs have them at the end or tip.

Place the wick at the bottom of the container right at the center.
To make sure the wick sticks at the bottom, pour a little wax or hot glue on it.
Use a wick holder or chopsticks to keep the wick upright while pouring the wax.
Cut it to the length that you prefer.

After your wax is at the right temperature and melted perfectly, pour it into the container of your choice.
Make sure the wick is straight while you are doing this.
Pour it slowly so you will not get any bubbles.
Leave some space at the top of the container, as the wax will expand when it cools down.
Let the wax cool down slowly to avoid any cracks.

For wax to cool down and settle in the container, it might take up to 6 hours.

After the wax has cooled, if you see any cracks on the surface, add some hot wax to fill them and smooth the surface to make it look even.
Do not light the candle for 24-48 hours, which will give enough time for the scent and wax to bond and give a better fragrance.

The shape of the container influences how long a candle will burn. To use the candle for a long time, use slim containers.
To avoid uneven burning of the candle, center the wick properly.
To avoid tunneling, burn the candle for enough time to melt the top surface properly.
Test the candle before giving it as a gift.

Now that you have learned how to make candles, you can experiment with it with different things.

To get a layered candle, add different wax colors on top of each other.
Decoration items like dried flowers, herbs or crystals can be used in your candles to give a personal touch. Just make sure the decorations are away from the wick so they don’t get burned.