Have you always dreamed of making candles but didn't know where to start? Do you have leftover candles that you'd like to repurpose? Is there a scent you love that you can't find easily in stores?
Making candles is easy, fun, and will leave your house or room smelling delicious! You can choose to buy wicks and wax, or scavenge to make your own. The recipe below shows how to make a cinnamon spice candle, but feel free to mix and match different scents to get one you love. How would orange work? Or sage? Maybe you can figure out how to make a Funfetti candle and add sprinkles into the wax! If you prefer to use wax melts, omit the jar and wicks and cool your wax in an ice cube tray or silicone mold instead.
Supplies:
Jar or container of choice
Wicks (or cotton twine and a nut or washer if you want to make your own)
Wax
Vanilla extract - 1 tablespoon
Ground cinnamon - 1 tablespoon
Ground cloves - 1/2 tablespoon
Instructions:
First, prep your wick. If you've purchased a wick, make sure the metal bit is flat on the bottom of your jar. You can wrap the top of your wick around a stick and balance that across the opening of your jar to keep everything in place. If you're making your own wick, braid some cotton twine and tie it around a small washer or nut. Soak your DIY wick in some oil until it's all saturated. Place your homemade wick into the jar the same way you'd do for a purchased wick.
Melt your wax! You can reuse wax from old candles you have or purchase wax flakes or beads from Amazon or Walmart. For a pint-sized Mason jar, you'll need about 2 cups of melted wax. Make sure you nuke it in the microwave in one-minute intervals until everything has melted.
Once everything is melted, start mixing in your scents! A chopstick or wooden spoon handle would be a great way to mix everything together. My kitchen started to smell amazing at this point when the heat from the wax warmed up the cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla.
Go ahead and pour your wax into your jar, being careful to go slowly to adjust your wick if you need to. If you're using ground spices or herbs, there is a possibility that the granules will fall to the bottom of your jar. That's okay! What would happen if you poured everything in intervals, letting layers dry as you go? If you see air bubbles, you can use the chopstick or spoon to get rid of them.
Now you've just got to wait for your candle to dry. This will vary on the size and shape of your candle, but 4-5 hours should be good.
Once your candle has dried, it's ready to light! Warm your abode with its glow and scent!
Did you know... there's an easy way to clean out the containers you've melted your wax in! Heat up the wax until it's mostly melted, pour some boiling water into the container, then let it cool. You'll start to see the wax rise to the top and cool, leaving behind a disk that you can then take off and use for another project!
We'd love to see your work! Did you use a different combination of spices or scents? Did you add fun bits like sprinkles or dried lavender? What type of container did you decide to use? Did you choose to make wax melts instead? Post your pictures below and share your DIY with the rest of our Wyrkshop community!