How to make scented candles at home

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You can make an aroma candle as a gift or to pamper yourself with a pleasant aroma at home yourself. You will need few materials. In addition, this process is interesting and can easily become a pleasant hobby for you and your children.

What you will need

Wax

The quality of the wax determines how beautiful, fragrant and useful the candles will be. Traditionally, they are made from beeswax, paraffin, but there are also soy, coconut, apricot and other plant-based mixtures for making.

Heather Beaudoin, founder of Tiny Bandit from the USA, notes that plant-based wax is more environmentally friendly and melts better, unlike paraffin.

Candle wax can be purchased at craft stores. We will also describe the melting method – for this you will need any candle that you have at home.

Wicks

In order for the candle to burn well and melt, you will need wicks. There are a few simple rules for choosing them:

• the larger the diameter of the candle, the thicker the wick should be;
• for a candle made of beeswax and vegetable wax, you need a wick made of thick fibers, usually marked Nm 10/1. And for paraffin – from thin, more twisted threads Nm 20/1 or Nm 34/1.

Unfortunately, there is no universal answer to which wick will exactly suit your candle. You will have to experiment and stock up on at least two types. It is also recommended to use lead-free wicks with a cotton core – they do not emit harmful combustion products.

Fragrances

To make the aroma of the candle rich, it is recommended to use natural essential oils. If you are new to candle making, you should not mix several types of oils at once. It is better to leave such experiments for later and first try making a candle with one of them.

You can also use perfume fragrances that are sold in the soap-making departments of stores.

Plant ingredients are also added to the candle: finely ground zest, herbs, vanilla, cinnamon. But when using these ingredients, you should be careful, because they are quite fragile and their smell quickly fades.

Candle container

The quality of a candle largely depends on the container where it is placed. It is best to use glass, ceramic or metal containers. Silicone molds are also suitable, from which it is easy to remove the candle.

In addition, they can be reused, which will make candle making a pleasant hobby without additional costs.

How to make a candle with your own hands

There are two ways to create a scented candle: from pre-purchased ingredients or by melting it.

How to melt an old candle

To create scented candles, you can use unscented candles or candles with mild aromas.

First, you need to find a pot or ladle to melt the wax. You need to break the candle into small pieces, place it in a container and put it on a slow fire. Stir until the candle is completely melted. Add the fragrances or aromatic oils that you like to the resulting wax mixture.

Prepare a container for pouring the candle. You will need to install a wick in it. To do this, you will need a pencil, chopstick or straw. Fix the wick at the bottom of the container by pouring a little wax on it, and secure it on top with tape or electrical tape so that it holds tightly on the pencil or straw.

Once the wax has completely melted, pour it into the container. Just leave a little for topping up after it dries — there will usually be a hole around the wick that needs to be filled in.

Make sure the bulk of the wax is dry. This will take several hours, depending on the size of the candle.

Trim the wick so that about 5-7 mm remains above the surface of the candle.

Be sure to let the candle rest for about a day after drying before lighting it.

How to make a solid wax scented candle

To understand how much wax you need, you need to measure it using the container in which you will pour the candle. Pour wax flakes into it so that they reach the place where the top of your candle will be. You will need twice as many wax flakes per container.

Melt the wax in a saucepan over low heat or in a water bath. Stir it with a silicone spatula. Then add 10 to 20 drops of essential oil. Be sure to leave some wax to top up the area around the wick.

Attach the wick to the bottom of the container where you will pour the candle. We mentioned in detail how to do this in the section on remelting old candles.

When the candle hardens, you will need to top up the area near the wick with the remaining wax. And then trim it so that its tail remains 5-7 mm above the surface of the candle.

If you want to speed up the drying process, you can place the mold in cold water. The main thing is that it does not fill the top of the candle and the wick.