Can any one tell me how to make my own candles.?

Question

I would liked them to be strong smelling and brights coloured.

Answer 1

I am sure she has all the answers.

I use a hot plate with a timer. Sometimes I have things to do, have kids, so I can't be out in the garage so long to watch the wax melt. If I don't get there, the timer shuts the whole thing down. My hotplates are for pancakes, and are large enough to have several pots going at once. It is very convenient. I really watch the temperature setting for perfection in pouring. Wick size etc. I like the effect of swirling water. I pour hot (hard type) wax into swirling water of different temperatures and it makes a good base for candles. Put in some drift wood, and you have a unique gift.

The more coloring you put in, the more the colorant collects on the wick. I started out with crayola crayons to color them. Mixing and matching. Oil based essential oils, but now they have so many more scents etc. specially for candles. It can be a very expensive hobby. To start out, I used old candles, and filtered the wax as I poured. Sand candles are my favorite, but you don't want to use bright colored wax in these, but you can use colored sand, and stick pieces of glass and shells etc. into the sides of the moist sand pit before you pour. Pour as cool a wax as you can to make sand candles.

Answer 2

In shorter candles I use birthday (cake) candles, or votive candles, instead of wick. Also if you have left over wax from candles you can melt down in the microwave, stove top.and reuse. Try setting in the frig. for quicker cooling time between colors. Some candle factories have sales every so often on site, If you have one around your area you could check it out.

Answer 3

You can go to any craft store to find out how to make them. They have basic instruction sheets, plus all the basic supplies you will need in their candle section. You can also purchase more detail instruction magazine or books there. The fragrance you can adjust yourself to the strength you want. You should also do a web search. You will be blown away by the free instructions available to you.

Answer 4

Use the instructions that Debi gave you they come from Cajun Candles and they have the best supplies on the market. Thats how I learned to make them and it works everytime. They have the step by step instructions for candles on their web site.

Answer 5

What is the best way to get started making my own highly fragrant candles?
The best way is to simply follow any of our "Step-By-Step Candle Making Guides". They're 100% free and they were written with the beginner candle maker in mind. Begin with something easy, such as votive candles.

Votives are easy to make and will turn out perfect every time if you follow our Step by Step votive candle making Guide. Making votives will also give you much needed experience working with candle wax, dyes, fragrance oils, wicks and the candle making process.

What are the bare necessities that I'll need to make my candles correctly and in a safe manner?
The first thing you will need is something to melt your wax in. Some people believe you should only use the double boiler method to melt wax. The double boiler method is the safest way to melt wax but it is also the slowest.

One thing I will warn you is to never melt wax on your stove unless you are using the double boiler method. Never melt wax on or in anything that does not have some form of temperature control because wax does have a flash point and will burst into flames without warning once it reaches that point. Depending on the wax the flash point may be between 290 - 380 degrees.

You don't have to have an expensive wax melter to make great candles either. I recommend you purchase a Presto "Kitchen Kettle" from your local hardware or Walmart store. I've seen them in just about every Walmart I've ever been in and they're only about $20.00! Just be sure you are getting the "Kitchen Kettle" there are many variations but the Kitchen Kettle comes with a numerical temperature gauge. Never melt wax in anything that doesn't have a numerical temperature gauge. Don't ever use anything with just high, medium and low settings.

The next thing you will need is a good thermometer. You need to use this with your kitchen kettle to ensure a proper temperature at all times. You can buy you a good thermometer while you're buying your kitchen kettle for under $5.00. Any candle making type thermometer works great. We also offer a great thermometer for candle making.

You will need a "pour pot" to pour your melted wax into your molds. We offer quality aluminum "Candlemaker's" pour pots, but I will tell you that a glass pyrex measuring cup works just as well. You can even start out using an old, clean coffee can.

Next, you will need an accurate and reliable scale for weighing your wax to put in your melter. A scale that weighs up to 10 LBS should be sufficient. You can usually find one at Walmart or at any office supply store. When we weigh our wax we break it up with a hammer and put the chunks the digital scale until we reach the amount we are going to melt.

The Presto "Kitchen Kettle" we talked about earlier will hold about 8 LBS of wax. You can melt any amount up to that. Even though it will hold 8 LBS of wax, I don't recommend ever melting more than 7 LBS at a time because when you try to stir it can slosh out of the pot and cause a big mess.

So far you will need the following items to begin your candle making:
1. Melting Pot
2. Thermometer
3. Pour Pot
4. Scale to weigh your wax
5. Hammer to break up wax

Candle Making Supplies
Now we will cover the actual Candle Making supplies you will need.

You will need wax. If you want to make quality, fragrant candles not just any wax will do. We recommend one of our blended candle waxes that are manufactured exclusively for making candles. Our candle wax page offers only premium candle wax that was formulated to make creamy, rich looking candles every time when used properly. There are many types of waxes available, you can read more about all of the various candle making waxes on our web site in greater detail.

You will need wax coloring or dye. You are probably wondering if a crayon would work to color your wax. The short answer is yes, but the pigments used to make crayons will clog your wick and prevent your candle from burning properly. We recommend a dye that was formulated for candle wax. Our professional candle wax dyes come in a 1 oz drip bottle and they are very concentrated. A 1 oz bottle will last you a long time.

Next, you will need some wicks. To save you time and money we offer pretabbed and prewaxed wicks. Wicking is a very instrumental part of candle making. Too big of a wick or too small of a wick is not good. We always recommend that you test various wick sizes to ensure that you are getting the proper burn for your candles. With that said, I will tell you that we use a 44-24-18z wick for our votive candles. The wicks we offer are proven to give a good burn and scent throw when used with our quality products.

Of course, since you're wanting to make a highly fragrant candle you're going to need fragrance oil. I am often asked: Isn't all fragrance oil the same? Let me assure you with an empathic "NO". Allot of people waste a lot of money trying to save in this one area where you just shouldn't, not if you want to make great candles that is. The next paragraph explains why.

Any wax you decide to use to make your candles will only hold a certain amount of fragrance oil. This equates to approximately 1 oz - 1.5 oz of fragrance oil per LB of wax at most. After that, the fragrance oil will simply seep from the wax once your candle is made. So, since you can only put so much fragrance oil in a candle it only makes sense that if you want a truly strong scented candle you've got to use a quality fragrance oil.

All of our fragrance oils are 100% pure, uncut, no dilutions or additives, only pure quality fragrance oils you will be proud to use. Here is another money saving tip, whether you buy your fragrance oils from us, or another company, always purchase the 1 oz sampler size first so you can evaluate each fragrance and performance before you invest a lot of money in a bigger size bottle. A 1 oz bottle of our fragrance oil will scent 1 LB of wax and give you a very strong scented candle.

And lastly, if you begin by making votive candles you are going to need votive molds. We recommend using our seamless, metal votive molds and wick pins to ensure a perfect made votive candle with a perfect centered wick. I also want you to email me if you have any other questions that I might not have covered in the instructions below, also be sure that you let me know how your first candles turn out! Most of all... Have fun!

The candle making supplies you will need are:

1. Candle making wax
2. Wax dye
3. Wicks
4. Fragrance oils
5. Votive molds or containers