Looking to make a little extra money? Or looking for that perfect gift idea for your mom? Or just wanting to start your own candle collection? Candle-making is a fun and easy way to do any of those things and more!
Before you start, you'll need these supplies:
- 1 cooking pot
- 1 coffee can - metal/tin, without lid
- 1 wooden spoon
- Crayons (your choice of color, you don't need very many at all - even one crayon can be plenty depending on the candle)
- Stove
- A pencil
- Wax - can be found at most craft stores
- Candle mold - can also be found at most craft stores - looks like the photo below but can vary
- Wick and Scents - can be found right with the wax and candlemold
- Newspaper
Here is an overview of what you will be doing:
- Prepare candle mold
- Prepare wax and water
- Boil wax
- Add scent and color
- Mold the wax
- Prepare your candle for use
Now for the steps:
- The first step you are going to take is to break off a chunk of wax - the size/amount depends on the size of your candle mold - for a mold that is about 8-10 inches tall with a 2-3 inch diameter, you want about a baseball of wax.
- Put that wax into the coffee can.
- Fill the cooking pot about 1/3 of the way full with water and set that on the stove on high to boil.
- Place the entire coffee can with wax inside into the water in the cooking pot on the stove
- While that heats up, prepare the candle mold. Candle molds vary greatly in size, shape, type, and form, therefore I cannot give you specific instructions on this, so you will need to simply follow any directions that come with the mold. After the mold is prepared, set it aside.
- Once the wax is liquified in the coffee can, drop half a crayon or so into the wax to add color - depends on the size of the candle.
- Then add around 10 drops of whatever scent you have - again, amount depends on candle size
- Stir that all up, then turn the stove off
- Place the candle mold on top of some newspaper to protect the surface you are working on
- Take the coffee can and pour the colored and scented wax into the candle mold
- Let the mold sit for 3 hours or so, or until the wax hardens into a candle - you will know when the candle is ready to remove from the mold because it will simply slide out on its own.
- Cut the wick appropriately, and your candle is now ready for use!
Guide created: 04/29/06 (updated 01/11/08)

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