CANDLE MAKING GUIDE

Making candles is relatively easy and with a handful of supplies and a little know-how, you can fill your home with light and warmth in no time. The beauty of candle making is the very bespoke fragrance combinations you can conjure for both yourself and loved ones. From pillar and votive to rolled and dipped, there are many types of candles to master, though we’re starting with container candles – ones that are poured/made inside a container of your choosing. You could re-use an empty candle jar or buy a new vessel in a style you find most attractive.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

HOW TO MAKE

1. Before you start, prepare your craft area by covering the surface with newspaper.
2. Place the wick into the container and secure in the centre, using either a drop of melted wax or a wick sticker. It’s important that your wick is central, so that it burns evenly and safely. Use some skewers or a lollipop stick, secured with tape, across the top of the container to temporarily fix the wick in a straight and upright position.
3. Heat the wax by placing a pot over your chosen heat source, such as a hot plate or stove, adding the wax and allowing to gently melt. This is also the stage when you can add colour or fragrance, if desired. It’s a little bit of a trial-and-error game here when you first start making candles and you’ll soon find the level of fragrance that’s right for you after a few goes. We recommend slowly adding, drop by drop, to maintain some level of control. If you'd like to keep the air in your home as clean as possible, use soy wax.
4. Pour the wax into your container, slowly and carefully. Then leave the wax to completely cool before removing your skewers/lollipop stick and trimming your wick down to size. Once you’ve mastered your first candle, you can get creative with your scents, colourings and styles. Perhaps graduate to layered colours within your container or attempt to marble effect the colouring of your wax whilst melting. You can decorate the jar by adding a simple ribbon, or using glass pens for a personal design, along with a gift tag.