Home-Made Candles
Yep, I'm a guy who makes home-made candles. Pretty ones, too, if I don't say so myself. These are from over a few batches over the years, and of course, being hand-made, each candle turns out a little differently. I kick out about a dozen in a single batch, and that takes about six to eight hours, depending on what I'm doing with that particular set.
Making them is easy, you can get most of the supplies you need at Michael's. One suggestion, though -- don't bother getting the candle molds. Just use soda cans; it's one-use per can only, but we do tend to have them just going in recycling anyway. I've outlined the general process below.
Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for anything that happens before, during, and after your making candles! You can get hurt, either with burnt wax or by slicing yourself pretty badly on the cans, just to name a couple of possibilities. And if you spill wax, it can be very difficult to get it out, particularly of carpeting, so do this at your own risk!
- Get the okay of everyone in your house that you're going to do this. It involves taking over at least the kitchen, and possibly dining room, for a day.
- Go to a craft store. Buy a spool of medium wick (NOT the kind with metal wire in it), a big ol' slab of wax or two, sealing putty (will be with the candle making supplies), blue and green dye, two metal pouring buckets, and scent if you want.
- From various other places, get the following: empty soda cans (I prefer and recommend the half-high kind, they use up less wax), an awl, a few wooden chop-sticks, a sharp knife, teeny tiny little scissors, lots of newspaper, needle-nose pliers, big cooking pot, and more newspaper.
- Go get everyone's permission again. Really. There's gonna be wax everywhere.
- Start by setting down newspaper on the table you're going to work on. At least a few layers thick, as even little drops of wax can soak through.
- Take an empty soda can, and stick the needle nose pliers in the mouth. Close the pliers so you have a firm grip on the lip; hopefully just clamping down has ripped a hole in the side, towards the top. Twist, and then pull off the top, gently and slowly. It takes some practice, but the goal is to have an open topped can.
- Rinse the can of any residue soda, and dry it. Punch a hole in the bottom with the awl. Be careful not to stab yourself, and not to get the hole too big.
- Thread the wick through the hole, and tie the end that's on the open side of the can to a chop stick (maybe half of a chop stick, that should be long enough).
- Pull the wick taught; you should now have half a chop stick laying across the open end of the can, with a wick tied to the middle, going down through the center of the body and out the hole on the far side.
- Using the putty, mush the hole closed; this will also hold the wick in place on the bottom. Get a good quarter-sized blob of putty on the bottom of the can to make sure the wax doesn't leak out the bottom. Snip off the extra wick, and do this again until you have about a dozen cans ready.
- If you want a neat slanted color change like on some of those pictured, set the edge of your cans on paperback books to have them at an angle. Warning, though, they will spill more easily.
- Using a double boiler-like arrangement, have your big pot with not quite boiling water, and your wax-pouring bucket in that. Put in wax, some dye, and scent if you want. Let it all melt together.
- Pour into the cans, little by little. I'd not pour all at once, as the wax tends to settle when it cools. Besides, you get neat layer effects when you pour half a finger, let it cool for about ten or fifteen minutes, and pour again.
- Repeat, lots. That should take several hours of pouring.
- Once it's all done and poured, and only warm to the touch, you can work off the putty from the bottom of the cans, and snip off the excess wick.
- Using the needle nose pliers again, peel away the can from the candle. This is the most dangerous part! You can easily cut yourself doing this, so go slowly and carefully! You will end up with a ribbon of metal, and the can's bottom will still be on the candle.
- To get that last bit of can off, you can probably wait til morning when the wax is fully cool and just pull it off. I'm not that patient, I tend to dip the metal-capped bottom into barely boiling water for a few seconds, and push the can bottom off with a chop stick.