Making Homemade Candles

Why I Started Making Homemade Candles

When I started making homemade candles, it was at the beginning of the Yankee Candle explosion. These candles are lovely, but the smell is amazing. I don't happen to like highly scented candles, but I also don't just want plain white candles. At the time, it wasn't easy to find colored candles that weren't also scented.

So for a long time I made homemade candles just so I could have some colorful candles in the house without having to stink up the house with fake fragrances that I found overpowering.

The more I have played with making homemade candles, I've started to enjoy adding a little bit of fragrance, too. And that's the beauty of making homemade candles: you can add just a tiny bit of fragrance if you like, or none at all.

Getting Started Making Homemade Candles

Another wonderful thing about making homemade candles is that you don't need a whole lot of equipment to start. Just something to melt wax in, a heat source (you can use your stove), some wax, wicks, color and scent are really all you need. Of course a store-bought candle mold can also be helpful, but it's not necessary.

In fact, making your own candle molds makes the process of making homemade candles even more fun.

Making Candle Molds

If you want to make your own candle molds, there are many places to start. An empty soda can makes a wonderful mold, just cut off the top. An empty frozen juice container can also be used, and the plus side is that the top has already been removed.

For bigger candles, cut the top off a two-liter of soda. Sure, this will give your candle a strange shape, but it's kind of fun to have a candle with feet! Or try a coffee can for a more standard look.

Just about any receptacle you've got in the house that is leak-proof and heat-resistant can make a good candle mold. I've even read about using cardboard to make your own molds, but, frankly, I'm too chicken to try it!

You can also make a "mold" using sand. Take a big bucket of sand and get the sand wet enough to hold together, like sand on the beach you'd want to make a sand castle with. Press a votive holder or any other container into the sand to make the "mold." Pull your form out of the sand and make sure the walls are solid, without any gaps or air bubbles.

Then just hear and pour your wax like normal. Using this method you can make candles in just about any size and shape that you like.

Making Homemade Candles your Own

My favorite part about making homemade candles is that you can customize them however you like. When you buy candles in the store, you're often stuck with one color for a particular fragrance. Ocean smells might be blue while coffee is brown and melon is green, for example.

But what if you love the smell of honeydew but hate the color green? If you're buying candles from the store you're out of luck. But when you're making homemade candles, you can make your melon candles blue or purple or whatever color you like and that fits with your décor. Or, as I already mentioned, you can make candles without any added fragrance at all.

Making homemade candles is a license to experiment. Change up the colors, scents, shapes and sizes. It is very rare to make a candle that's simply unusable, and if you mess up you can always remelt the wax and try again.

Most crafts provide ample opportunities for creativity, but making homemade candles is one of the best because you can literally make it up as you go along. There is no pattern to follow or formula that needs to be watched. Just add some color, add some fragrance, and see what happens.