Believe it or not, I actually can be a pretty crafty person when the mood strikes me. I consider myself to be a creative person. I write, I draw, I keep an artsy journal, I paint. But with the big move coming up, I haven't had much time or energy to devote to more extreme crafts. That, and I can't exactly try to make something huge when I'm in the process of getting rid of a bunch of stuff.
When the craft bug bites, though, sometimes there's little one can do but just make something.
Thus, candle making. Candle making is simple, and the end product is small and makes a great gift. I've done it before - the red one in the photo is a cinnamon/vanilla scented one from a few months ago. And when the crafting bug bit today, I made lavender candles! Why? Because I love lavender. It's one of my top favourite smells. It's calming, it's grounding, and yet it's magical and ethereal.
This time around, I took pictures every step of the way. So if you ever get the urge to craft, here's how I did it...
- White wax (if you can't get the chunks they sell at craft stores, go to the dollar tree, get a bunch of white candles, and smash them with a hammer)
- A cleaned-out soup can
- A glass container (a mini mason jar would work well)
- Candle wicks
- Essential oil in your desired scent
- Eyedropper
- A crayon or two
- A pencil or chopstick
- OPTIONAL: Embellishments for the top of the candle. (Some people use glitter, but I'm not sure how safe that is. I had a big bag of lavender so I used that.)
You're going to begin by getting a pot of water and heating it on a stove. Medium heat works best for this - you don't want it to boil over. In the centre of the pot, place your empty can (make sure you've cleaned all the residue of the paper off first, or you'll get little soggy paper bits floating in the water) and put the wax in the can so it can melt into the can.
The purpose of this? It's the same concept as having a double boiler when you make fudge - the water is what heats the wax, so it melts evenly rather than burning. It also prevents the can (or any soggy paper bits) from burning, so it makes it safer. Still, it's gonna get steamy, glasses-wearers beware!
While your wax is in the process of melting, wrap the top of the wick around a pencil or chopstick, which will help keep the wick upright when you pour the wax later. To keep it centered, you can also use another chopstick or pencil or skewer or what have you to get a tiny bit of melted wax to keep that little metal bit stuck to the glass. In my opinion, this is optional. If you pour the wax slowly, it shouldn't displace the metal bit. But if it's your first time and you get nervous, that can help a lot.
Even though craft stores sell coloured blocks to colour your candles, it's much cheaper to buy a bunch of wax crayons. While the wax is melting in the can, peel the crayon(s) that are similar to the colour you want. Keep in mind that since the wax is white, the colour of your candle will end up paler than the crayon colour - for the red cinnamon candle that I made, I ended up using three red crayons.
Once the wax is mostly liquid in the can (it doesn't have to be completely melted - in my photo you can still see a little bit of white), drop in the crayon(s).
Stir the wax! Stir it all up (a wooden chopstick works well here too, it won't get as hot as a metal fork) as well as you can so that the colour distributes evenly. It actually is very easy to mix, it takes a few seconds tops.
Once you've done that, use your eyedropper to collect some of the essential oil. Some of them are very strong - with the cinnamon candles, it only took about five drops, tops. The lavender oil was pretty strong too, but I wanted a stronger scent, so I used ten, but you could probably get by with just five. It doesn't take a lot! And remember, you can add more, but you can't take any away once it's in there. Start with only a few drops and add more as needed until you get the scent you want. Then... stir it even more.
Lay down a paper towel in case of spills, get oven mitts or tongs to lift the hot metal can, and pour the wax into the glass container of your choice. Pour as slowly as you can, but if you do spill it on the edge of the glass (like I did here, oops!) you can always wipe it off if it bothers you. Be very careful to get as little as possible onto the top of the wick, because it'll make the candle harder to light.
Let the wax cool a little, but not completely. Then, sloooooowly slide the pencil or chopstick or whatever you used out from the wick, as slowly as you possibly can so as not to jostle it.
OPTIONAL STEP: Before the wax is completely cool, sprinkle your embellishments over the top so that when the wax does dry completely, they'll stick to it. And...
Ta-daaaaa!
You've got yourself a candle!
Happy candle-making!
-Nym
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