Who says you need to pay for expensive candle making classes to learn how to make beautiful candles? With just a little effort and a whole lot of creativity, you can create candles you can be proud of.

If you wish to make candles on your own, you must first, melt wax using a double boiler at about 200 degrees. Try using a boiler with thermostat control for easier manipulation. If you don’t have a double boiler, you can use any can you find in your garage (but clean it first) and a thermometer to gauge temperature. If the wax is emitting smoke the temperature is too high. Try to keep the temperature at a constant level for best results. Warning: wax can explode at dangerous levels (about 390 degrees).

When the wax is completely melted, it’s time to add the dye you want. You can use any color dye you want. As a rule, one block of dye colors about twenty pounds of wax. Stir the dye until it is completely dissolved.

You can also add in some fragrances. You need about 2.5 ounces of scent for every five-pound block of wax. Be careful because some fragrances have their own color and may affect the color of the dye you’ve already mixed. The scent ‘gardenia’ is particularly notorious for giving a ‘green’ effect. It looks great alone, but can ruin other dye colors. Also, be careful how much scent you mix in. Too much can actually remove paint color.

You can now pour the wax mixture into your molds, and stick on your wicks. Let the wax cool overnight. Expect the wax to ‘sink’ and create a hole down the middle – don’t panic when you see this the next day. Simply pour in additional wax and let it cool for another 12 hours and voila — you have made your very own candle.

By: Alison Cole

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content for WordPress

Candle making can be either a great hobby or a profitable business venture. It is actually quite simple, once you learn the basics. If you already have the basics down cold, why not experiment with hand dipped candles. These unique creations take more time to make, but they can be quite stunning. One way to make them very interesting is to use several colors on each candle.

If you already are an experienced candle maker, you will have the basic tools needed to make hand dipped candles. Get out your double boiler, and a large amount of paraffin wax, your long wick material, the thermometer and a stirring stick or spoon. You will need color – either in the form of chips, powder, cakes or liquid. If you want to add scent, make sure you have a fragrance oil, not one with an alcohol base. If you want to have candles with more length than the depth of the double boiler, then use a dipping can with depth, and place it in a water bath.

Prepare the wax just like you do for regular molded candles. Once it reaches the 160F temperature, lower the heat, just so the wax stays liquid. Add the color and scent (if you are using it). Add the color slowly, until you reach the desired intensity. Mix in the scent, using a small amount so your candle will burn properly.

Now, cut a piece of wick that is about 3 times the length you want your candle to be. Place the wick over a stick or wooden spoon, so equal amounts hang over each side of the supporting stick. This way, you’ll be making two candles at once. Dip the wicks into the hot wax, making sure it is coated well. Raise it out of the wax, and allow the waxed wicks to cool and harden for about 30 seconds. Then dip them again and again, allowing the short cooling time between dips. If you want a multi-colored candle, then prepare more than one color of wax, so you can dip into differing colors. Once the candles are as thick as you want, form the top to a point (easy to do before the wax is cold), and give them one more quick dip to give a smooth finish.

Hang the candles to cool and harden. Once they are hard, you can trim the bottoms flat with a sharp craft knife. Sounds quite easy, doesn’t it! However, this process can be a bit tricky at first. If your finished candles aren’t quite what you anticipated, you can easily melt them down and use the wax over again. As they say, practice makes perfect.

Although this process is time consuming, you can make some really attractive pairs of tapers this way. You can design your own hand dipped candles by varying the colors, by pouring a final color over parts of the candle, or even by dipping into a series of colored waxes. Why not find a good candle making book with colored photos, giving you step-by-step directions for various candle creations. Another source of good ideas and dipping directions is online candle websites. Whichever you choose, have fun with this.

By: Nicki Archer

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

In colonial times, candle making was an essential annual chore in all households. Home made taper candles were the only source of light for people’s homes, and there were no commercial candles available as there are today. Each household made its own candles, usually once a year. The average household needed around 400 candles a year, so this was a huge job.

Since the candles were made from tallow, or animal fat, this event usually coincided with the autumn slaughter of animals for meat. Tallow could be made from the fat of all farm animals, but that from sheep tallow was the most desirable. Pig tallow had a very bad smell, and was used by people who could not afford either beef or sheep tallow.

The earliest settlers made their candles by the dipping method. A wick of cotton was dipped repeatedly into the melted tallow, with time to cool and harden between dips. This made a taper candle. These home made candles did not burn very well, emitted odors, and the light was poor.

Those who could afford beeswax had candles from that wax. These were generally rolled from sheets of beeswax, and had a sweet honey smell. Beeswax was not very available, it was expensive, and only the very rich could afford to use candles made from it as a daily way of lighting their homes.

Some colonists found that they could make a wax from bayberries, which have a waxy coating. They boiled the berries, and the wax was skimmed from the top. This was a source of pleasant smelling wax, but there were some drawbacks. Huge numbers of berries were needed – about 15 pounds of bayberries were needed to make just one pound of bayberry wax! Since time was often at a premium for colonial women, this was not an efficient way to make candles. Also, the resulting candles were quite soft, and did not keep well in hot weather.

In the late 1700′s, whaling became an important industry in the Eastern part of America, and spermaceti (a waxy substance from the whale’s head) was found to make much better candles. This wax was harder than either tallow, beeswax or bayberry wax. The candles burned longer and brighter, and stood up to summer heat much better. They were quite expensive,

Around the same time, candle makers started to use wooden molds to make candles. This important innovation allowed candles to be made much faster, and the candles were uniformly shaped. Some candle makers would travel around, taking their molds and equipment, and making candles for people. Others set up a candle making business in one location, and sold their candles.

In the early 1800′s paraffin was first made from coal tar, and around 1850, it became commercially viable, when James Young filed a patent to produce it from coal, which was extensively mined in the eastern states. Paraffin was used to make candles of high quality, and along with the new machines that could make 1500 candles an hour, they became inexpensive and widely available.

Although they are no longer the major source of light for our homes, candles have grown in popularity and use in recent times. For many of us, candles are lit to mark celebrations; they symbolize romance, scented ones soothe our senses, and decorative candles accent our homes, where they cast a warm and mysterious glow for us to enjoy.

By: Nicki Archer

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content for WordPress

Flip a switch and turn on a light! If there is one thing about modern life we really take for granted, it is indoor electric lighting. Imagine, if you will, a home in the Middle Ages. It is night, and the day’s hard work is done. A single candle lights the interior of the room. This candle provides light for the family’s night time activities. It occupies a distinguished position in human history. The candle is one of mankind’s earliest inventions. The history of candle making is a long and interesting story.

The candle uses wax as fuel to produce light. Once the wick of a candle is lighted, heat from the flame burns the wax, which flows into the wick by capillary action. It’s a simple device, and it ruled the night for thousands of years.

Archeological digs have unearthed candlesticks in Egyptian and Cretan sites dating to about 3000 BC. Before this the Egyptians used a device called a rush light. A rush light was made from the pithy core of the rush plant, which was soaked in tallow and burned for light.

Tallow was the main ingredient of candles for thousands of years. Tallow is processed from the fat of cattle and sheep. These candles emit a very disagreeable odor and a lot of smoke when burned. They were used to light homes, temples, and meeting places. Travelers used them to light their way.

It is the Romans who probably learned how to make candles from beeswax. Beeswax is superior to tallow because it burns much cleaner, and is odorless. But it was also very expensive, so its use was limited to the nobility and the Church.

American Colonial women discovered that a superior wax could be extracted from the bayberry. This wax was very clean burning and produced a sweet aroma. The difficulty in extracting the wax from the berry prevented it from replacing the more readily available tallow.

Whales have the bad fortune to have a substance called spermaceti in their enormous bodies. Spermaceti produces a very high quality wax which makes candles superior to both tallow and beeswax. Since it is harder than these other waxes, the candles don’t bend in hot weather, a common problem for tallow and beeswax candles. By the 1700′s the whaling industry was supplying this highly valued substance for use. Candle making has always been a labor intensive business. Wax has to be melted and hand poured into molds. Taper candles, the earliest candles made, must be dipped many times to make a candle. Molded candle production became a lot easier in 1834 because of a gentleman by the name of Joseph Morgan. Mr. Morgan invented a candle molding machine. This machine consisted of a mold which had a moveable cylinder for its bottom. Wax was poured into the mold and allowed to cool. The cylinder bottom was then moved up, forcing the hardened wax candles out of the top. Continuous production of candles was now possible.

The best material for making candles was developed near the end of the candles long reign. Automobiles were becoming popular in the late 1800′s, and the need for petroleum to fuel the new internal combustion engine became great. The leftover residues of petroleum production produced a substance called paraffin. It was ideal for the production of candles, as it was economical, clean burning, and odorless. It’s chief drawback was its low melting point, which would have caused problems in warm weather. The independent discovery of stearic acid solved this problem. Added to paraffin, it hardened the candle, and slowed its burn rate. Paraffin/stearine candles soon became standard, totally replacing the tallow candle.

Thomas Edison’s creation of the light bulb in 1879 ended our dependency on the candle as a light source. The candle soon passed from necessity to ornamental. Candles are still used as ceremonial and decorative lights. Skilled crafts people still make candles to light and perfume our homes.

Candle making has been an essential craft in our history. Candles lit our ancestors homes and provided light for sacred ceremonies. Their manufacture contributed to the economy of the civilizations they illuminated. Today, candle making is a craft practiced by many artisans providing a link to our distant past.

By: Paul Wonning

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

Whenever you walk into a room with the fragrance of candles, you would instantly feel the welcoming atmosphere it creates. It is also true as you go outside with your friends, family or spending the night with someone dear, a candlelight dinner holds a certain appeal to us. We could never forget the times spent in a room with a lovely fragrance wafting the air through candles.

Scented oil actually does the trick if you’re talking about fragrant candles. These oils are accessible in Specialty stores or searchable on the internet. Oils are mostly recommended for candle making instead of an alcohol or water-based wax, which doesn’t hold a more compatible chemical component than oils. Because compared to oils, when you use water-based fragrances, the wax solution would only hover at the base of your diffused wax.

Amazingly, the aroma is well-pronounced when fragrant candles are not yet even burned. It’s also a highly popular product as a tribute, with the added luster of the sweet smelling aromas. Fragrant candles are done similarly like ordinary candles are prepared. Familiarize yourself with the various waxes that are readily accessible in the market. Waxes usually vary like palm, beeswax, and soy which are grouped as natural waxes. You could also use the basic wax, known as paraffin, countless of candles are prepared like this. Gel waxes are equally famous, though you need to be careful on mixing liberal measures of fragrance into your brew. The reason for this is that gel waxes’ denseness is a key factor to remember when mixing perfumes to waxes. With only small portions of denseness, the gel wax won’t be able to handle as much perfume compared to gel waxes with a large amount of denseness.

Similar to ordinary candles, we start with preparing two pots. Set a larger pot with the right amount of water, on the stove top. Put the smaller container, with the wax of your choice, and lay it in the larger pot to liquefy your wax. There’s also a choice for you to monitor the heat of your wax to just the right degree about 170-180 degrees, by putting a thermometer inside the heating pots. Secure the wick on your jar or mold by threads from either sides of the jar to hold a part of the wick up. Be sure to add a measured 6% spice concentration at the same time you’re waiting for your wax to liquefy properly.

Don’t consume unnecessary quantities of spice to your candles, because it could lead to complications. It is true that we would always want the best by applying large quantities of scent into our candles. Still complications, like pans of liquid produce by your candle which was caused by applying too much scent, couldn’t be avoided. In end, there’s always a room for improvement. Turn your mistakes into a learning experience. Observe, practice and develop your ideas, because this is how you find your way towards your original fragrance.

To sum it up, our imagination is sparked up by the different textures, fragrances and shades that give life to our candles. Isn’t it exciting to brew up your brand of fragrant candles and dedicate it to people you care? The possibilities are endless.

By: Ruth Clark

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

At one time candle making was more than a hobby, it was necessary because candles provided the only source of light. People didn’t have electricity so they needed to use either candles or lamps in order to illuminate their homes.

Today, candle making has become a popular hobby because it is both affordable and easy. Most find candle making an enjoyable thing to do from home. Scented candles can also be used to provide a gift to someone during a special occasion.

Since many people want to buy candles, candle making has also become a good business choice. Candle making is the easiest way to make money from home due to the low cost and maintenance of the simple candle making procedure.

If you are going to make candles at home, you simply need to melt wax and pour it into some type of mould. Then it is just a matter of adding a wick and waiting for the candle to become hard.

This is the simple process of making a candle from home; you simply need time and effort in order to become successful with this methods.

First, you need to properly prepare the wax. Simply use a double boiler on the stovetop in order to melt your wax. It is important to note at this point that you should never use the microwave when melting wax since this is very dangerous and can result in a fire.

When it comes to properly melting wax you need to do it slowly and don’t allow quick burning. Remember that the bottom pot needs to be large enough to boil water while the top pot is of the proper size to avoid falling in or over and still hold the right amount of wax you need to melt.

Second, you need to start boiling the water in the bottom pot.

Third, put the second pot on top with the wax in it.

Fourth, once the wax is completely melted then you can pour it into a mould of your choice.

Fifth, remove the wax from the heat and place the wick into the mold. Be sure to slowly pour the wax into the mould to avoid burns.

Sixth, it will take the wax about four to six hours to cool.

Lastly, you will need to place the candle in the freezer for a period of thirty minutes. In order to prevent the candle from sticking to the mould you will need to use a candle mould spray, but you can also use a cooking spray if necessary.

This is all you need to do in order to make scented candles from your home. If you want to start trying candle making from home then you have several choices to choose from.

Once you finish making your candles, you can choose to add things such as fragrance or color. As your experience increases, you can also choose to experiment with a variety of wax, gels, colors or scents in order to provide a variety of people with a unique and special gift.

You can also consider trying your hand at Latex moulds in order to have better flexibility to achieve the desired shape.

Making candles from home is the best way to earn money while enjoying the comforts of home. Often homemakers choose to make candles at home just as a hobby until they realize there is a financial future in making candles from home.

However, making candles at home also allows homemakers to show off their crafts while completing their responsibilities at home.

By: Sheryll Walker

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

Candles We Needed You, We Still Need You.

Candle making is a hobby that a lot of people enjoy. It is popular because it is a fairly easy hobby to get into, extremely enjoyable to make the candles, as well as great to watch them flickering in the darkness once lit. Used in the past due to electricity having not been invented and a need for light was seriously needed, in fact, it was a must.

Old Style Hobby But Now a 21st Century Upgrade.

In the 21st century and maybe long before this, as far as candle makers history goes, people gave candles as gifts for pleasure and received them for pleasure. Giving candles is a good thing, candles make wonderful gifts and they come in many varieties, so many varieties so that everyone can be pleased with the candle gift they receive. All the modern day craft shops now supply most of the materials so if you don’t want to do it the old way, you can now do it the more modern 21st century way.

Candle Maker – Where To Start?

Where do we start with our candle producing hobby? Well, first we need information, we need techniques, we need skills and lastly but most of all we need supplies. Without supplies we have no candles. So a number one priority once we have the candle making skills, the information and the technique is, to find the supplies we need. These supplies can be found in craft stores and hobbyist places usually in your locality, they can also be found on certain candle making supplies web sites.

Preparing the Wax.

To make candles we need to prepare the wax. To prepare the wax, the wax needs to be melted in a pot called a double boiler or a makeshift one if the instructions have been completely followed and as long as it is a safe piece of equipment you make use of. Once the wax is in a melted form the mixture is poured into a mold and after a few hours or preferable overnight it will be ready for lighting and enjoying the beautiful experience that is candle making and candle crafts. A fragrance can be added and also colours too for that not so boring a candle. Candle making is a super hobby and it is a shame not to try candle making once in your life at least. After the first time though, you may find you can’t stop yourself and continue, making them and candle making becomes a full time hobby and maybe even a profitable businesses.

Is candle making for you? It’s for everybody, if you have the time and patience.

Will my friends and relatives love my candles? Yes, of course they will, who wouldn’t love these wonderful wax creations.

How can I start? There are many options, you can take a look at all the resources around the Internet, buy a book or an e-book for a quicker purchase.

Enjoy Your Candle Making!

By: Glenn Mckenzie

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

Candle making is not a new craft, in fact it’s been around for quite some time. However in recent time, it’s become more popular and many people have taken it up at as a hobby. These candles make ideal gifts as well. You can also make candle making as a profitable business from home. You need to exercise your creative skills with this wonderful art. Though this art of candle making is a little messy to work with, and you need to be careful, it can actually be very interesting, and keep you occupied for quite some time. Kids are specially attracted to this art of making candles. Candle making for kids has become very popular today, with many parents sending their kids for candle making courses during the vacation. This keeps them busy, and helps them to learn something new.

While candle making is a lot of fun for kids, proper care should be taken while making candles. It’s extremely important that kids be supervised by adults while involved in candle making activities. Kids should be briefed on the safety rules and regulations. The need to follow these rules, needs to be reinforced on them. Also its essential, proper tools should be used while making candles. A burning candle should not be left unattended, moreover care should be taken that candles are lit on appropriate places, which are resistant to heat and are not flammable. While using a candle, make sure it has a candle holder. While making candles, wear an apron, and also put newspapers or old clothes around so that the drips don’t mess up the place. Use boilers in order to melt wax, and always have some sort of fire extinguisher near at hand.

Crayons can be used to make candles as well, and kids find this particularly attractive. Have your kids collect their half used or wasted crayons and create beautiful candles of these. In addition to learning a new craft, kids are also taught how to recycle things. Teach kids the right processes of making candles, using the correct amount of heat for melting the crayons as well as the wax. Also melting of wax and some other activities need to be controlled by adults, and younger kids should not be allowed to perform these tasks.

You can also explain and teach kids how to use various other materials such as gel, while making candles. Different molds can be used, and ask kids to come up with ideas for molds for candles such as glass bowls, glass, egg shells etc. If it’s a candle making course for kids, reward the kids with the most creative ideas. Kids will appreciate this, and it will also encourage them to be actively involved.

Candle making is enjoyable for kids, and you can teach them to experiment with various fragrances, while making scented candles. Have them play around with different colors, make them mix and match colors to create new colors. Teach them how to insert the wick into the wax, while forming the candle. Be patient and explain to them the various methods involved in candle making. For sure they’ll enjoy this fun and educational experience of candle making.

By: Karen Lincoln

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

The ever increasing recognition of wax preparation, in this generation, proves more and more the effort of our valued candle molders in re-designing the future of the candle industry. Folks often want the best and brand-new concepts on using waxes for candle design and formation.

Filtered from petroleum, paraffin waxes are commonly used in terms of candle production. Paraffin waxes are accessible almost everywhere and has the least cost compared to other waxes. Soy, palm or bayberry, are what we call the natural waxes filtered from vegetable or plants matters. Soy waxes involve the process of hydrogenation of soybeans for them to be molded as candles. Nature agrees with soy waxes stimulating form and a greater part of these waxes, the soybeans, are produced in the United States, specifically in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.

Another natural wax type, that greatly aids the environment are the palm waxes. Yet in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, as palm waxes’ fame reached them, they resorted to deforestation to be able to raise dozens and dozens of palms for waxes. Now, it became detrimental to our natural resources, such as plants and animals, some of which includes rhinoceroses, the Sumatran tiger and orangutans. Hence, the discovery of an organization known as Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil or RSPO by the WWF or World Wide Fund for Nature, focusing on several techniques to sustainable cultivation of palms. As for bayberry waxes, it comes from bayberry shrubs comprised of myristic, palmitic acid and esters of lauric, boiled to form what is known as wax-myrtle. This is why natural waxes are advantageous to use, because of its environment friendly ingredients.

Next type of wax that we need to take note of is the animal based wax known as the beeswax. This is also another form of natural wax. However, it’s quite different since it’s an extravagant buy but mostly because of a number of aspects. You can opt to buy either yellow or white colored beeswaxes. Aside from that, beeswax has an enticing aroma, with its interesting fiery aspects and the sturdiness of the material. Lately, we felt the candle enthusiasts’ cravings for hot-out of the oven ideas, to suit the markets demands.

Not far from that idea was the concept of making gel waxes as candles. Its features, the feel of its rubbery material and clear look, magically set the trends today. In making this type of candle we need to put in mind the amount of consistency that would be able to handle as much percent of spice as it can. Those with low consistency can handle only 0-3% of spice content, than compared to those with medium consistency, which handles 3-5% of spice. Gel waxes with medium consistency also are more ideally used. As for waxes that could handle bulk percentages of aroma or spice content, these are the high consistent gel waxes.

No amount of fragrance or spice, or even designs and types of waxes, could limit an enthusiast imagination and skill when it involves candles and its art. When you have the knowledge and familiarity with your chosen industry you would go a long way and may reach the peak.

By: Ruth Clark

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content for WordPress

Candle making produces a product that is so popular and desired by so many people. Many people love to have them as decorative item, while others like to have them burning all the time. Perfumed candles are the most popular candles for home as they provide a long lasting aroma.

This is not an expensive hobby to set up and the wax to make the candles is not really very costly either. If you use good quality fragrances you will find them a little more expensive initially, but as they are concentrated you do not use very much and they do have have a much better throw off perfume. If you are making candles to sell then I would definitely recommend you use the better quality fragrance because you will be looking for repeat business.

Prepare your molds well so that you candles do not look messy.

Do this step before you start melting your wax. Make sure the molds are clean with wicks in place, and ready for warming before you pour. Warm molds will prevent you from having ‘pour marks’ down the side of your molds.

Glass molds MUST be heated before being poured into. Put them into a cold oven and bring the temperature up to 150 degrees. At this temperature you should not have any problems with breaking glass. For safety sake, anyway, it is suggested that you use slightly thicker glass. Stay away from the very thin fragile glass because you don’t want them to break when they are burning.

Second pour of wax.

To prevent a drop in the top of your finished candles you will need to top up your candles (a second pour), when your wax in the mold is cool to touch. Heat the second pour of wax (making sure to give it a couple of minutes good stirring) to approximately 10 degrees hotter than your first pour, then top up your candles. If you do this, and your candles were left to get cool enough, the top should remain nice and flat after the second pour. But, if you do a second pour when the original wax is still too warm, the completed candle will have a nipple effect at the top.

It is important that when using colored wax that the second pour is done with some of the original wax or the color may not match.

Wicks

It is possible to buy pre-tabbed and pre-waxed wicks, but it is up to you what you buy. Wicks are a very important part of candle making because of the burn factor. You will need to research this, especially if you are making more novelty candles. You will get plenty of help from a good supplier.

Flat Candle Base

If the base of your candle is not flat simply place it on a hot pan surface and melt it down so that it is flat.

Christmas Candles

For Christmas candles you can of course use red and green wax and you can also use decorations to dress up any candles that you make. If you buy long taper candles you can roll white candles in red or green and use them for the table. There are various ways to add gold or silver to your candles as well. When making your own candles you can layer Christmas decorations on the outside of the candle. Just make sure that when you are using any decorations that they will not cause a fire hazard.

By: Kaye Dennan

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content for WordPress