Monday 12 January 2015

Candle-making

I've always loved candles. Like a real fire, there is something timeless about them. Humans have been making candles in one form or another for many centuries, and despite the invention of electric lights they haven't lost their appeal. They provide a soft, gentle light and can scent a room as well, and watching one flicker and glow is very calming .



When I was a child my uncle brought me back one as a present from his holiday in Austria. I still have it now, blue and white with blue gentian flowers moulded on it. I was hooked and started to collect a few, and as a teenager had a small collection of rainbow, fruit-shaped, beeswax-rolled and flower-shaped candles. My family joked that I collected them, but would never light one.


Nowadays I still buy them, but it's the scent I love as well as the shape and colour, and I do light them (although I will admit that I do own some which are too pretty to light!). Inspired by these exquisite candles, I decided that I would make some of my own. I used to make them when I was a teenager, with a very limited kit of one saucepan, some wicks and wax pellets and one mould. It was quite messy, and I suspect that my mum was secretly relieved when I gave up.
So for Christmas this year Father Christmas very kindly brought me some basic candle-making items: moulds, wicks, dyes, essential oils and both soya flakes and beeswax pellets. I have decided to return to making my own, but this time I shall make coloured, scented ones. As the Christmas holiday and first day back at work were quite busy I knew I would have to wait a while before making them. That was mighty difficult because I've been quite excited about it, but on Sunday I had almost a whole day to myself and knew that it would be my designated candle-making day.



I got everything out, with newspaper to protect the work surfaces, and measured 500g of soya flakes into a bowl. I put it over a saucepan which was one third full of water and heated it up. Then I put the wicks into the jars and votive moulds, sticking them in place at the bottom with a tiny piece of rolled-up sticky tape. They needed to be held in place at the top too when the wax is poured in, so I used clothes pegs and pencils held together with elastic bands.



As the wax melted it needed to be stirred regularly. I chose soya instead of paraffin because it's a more natural product, it has a longer burning time and is easier to clear up. I melted it in a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of hot water until it reached 170 degrees, and used a jam thermometer to check.




Now for the dye - which colour to choose? I'm in a pastel colours mood at the moment, so I chose light blue. I knew that it would be trial and error at first to find out how much to add, so erred on the side of caution, and only put a little in, chopping it into very tiny pieces first.



The molten wax turned blue quite quickly.



Then it was time to add a few of drops of essential oil. I've got a few oils, and chose to mix nutmeg and peppermint. I knew that these go well together because I once bought a pillow-spray which contained these two scents. I used about 6 drops of each one.



Having mixed it all together, I poured it carefully into the moulds and jars, making sure not to burn myself. At this point the wicks started to go a bit wobbly, so I worked hard to make them stand up straight.



Once I was happy with them, I washed up the bowl and spoon in hot soapy water. But I didn't want to stop there. Oh no, I wanted to make more - this was fun! So I melted some more wax flakes and added some lemon, and some lavender oil. This time I decided to keep the natural soy wax colour, so didn't add any dye. I made two candles, one in a glass candle holder, and one in a jar. But there was some left over, so I quickly hunted about and found a little egg cup. The size was just right, and I popped a wick in, filling it with the last of the wax. Phew - all done!


I left the candles at room temperature to set for a day. The colours turned out exactly as I wanted, which was very pleasing. Here they are in front of my first bunch of daffodils of the year!


They have a nice creamy, chalky appearance. I was especially pleased with the egg cup candle, and think it looks rather sweet.


The votives weren't keen to come out of their moulds, so I popped them in the freezer for a couple of hours, and they came out beautifully. One lost a bit of its edge, but otherwise they were fine.


I trimmed the wicks to about 1.5 cm.


For a first attempt I'm very pleased with my candles. Their scent doesn't seem very strong, but I'll wait until I burn them to see how scented they are.


I lit a lemon and lavender one and was delighted that it burned evenly and slowly. It wasn't as highly scented as I'm used to in bought ones, but there was a bit of a perfume. I shall have to experiment with future batches.


It really was easy to do, and I shall definitely make more now, and try different scents, colours and shapes. Can't wait!

18 comments:

  1. That looks like such fun. I love candles and wanted to make some as part of my 50 list last year; unfortunately, I never got around to it. Maybe this year instead! x

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    1. That's a good idea. I haven't made any resolutions this year, but it did feel appropriate to be starting a new(ish) craft in the new year!
      Cathy x

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  2. Oh how wonderful - II am very impressed! Something I've wanted to make recently is a 'teacup' candle, the idea is to find a pretty tea cup and saucer from a charity shop and make a candle in it and present it as a gift with the idea, once the candle has finished the gift then has a second use as a teacup, might be something for my challenge 12 list!

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  3. It's funny you should say that, as that's my next plan too: to make tea cup candles as presents for my friends and relatives. It'll be fun searching them out in charity shops!
    Cathy x

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  4. Hello Cathy, What a brilliant and fun Christmas present, they look amazing and sort of easyish.to make Tea cup candles, I can't wait.
    You have started off a wonderful idea.

    luv
    irene
    xxxx

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    1. Thank you, Irene :) I'm going to have to go on a tea cup hunt I think :)
      Cathy x

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  5. Hi Cathy, I would like to try to do some candles like you, I'll try to do them with my little candles left...but I need to find wicks! I read your blog in the Crhistmas holiday but I was at the mountain with slowly, very slowly connection and no wifi!
    Have a good year!
    Isabella

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    1. You too, Isabella - your mountain pictures are gorgeous!
      Cathy x

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  6. I made candles early last year, really enjoyed it, thought it was a bit like cooking but without the calories lol
    Jillxo

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    1. Yes, I agree - there's definitely an element of mixing potions about it!
      Cathy x

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  7. I can almost smell those candles from here.lol Love the smell
    of all the scents available out there now. Thanks for sharing.
    Cheers, Anita.

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    1. You're welcome, Anita :) thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. Lovely to meet you :)
      Cathy x

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  8. I love candles, their light and the scent. I've been wanting to try candle-making for a while - you make it sound very doable, this might be the time :-)
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. Hi Amalia, thank you for dropping by - it's nice to meet you :) Yes, they are pretty easy to make with not too much equipment and very little mess. Hope you have fun making your candles!
      Cathy x

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  9. I love these Cathy and have decided to make some myself. Have you seen Karen at Beatrice Euphemie's blog? She wrote a post on decoupage candles, I've copied her link if you want to see, I think you will love these! (http://beatriceeuphemievintagecottagestyle.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/decoupage-candles.html) Take care. Chel xx

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    1. Hi Chel, thank you for the link. I've just taken a look and they're very pretty. I'll have to try this some time - have fun making your own candles.
      Cathy x

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  10. Oh thanks a lot cause making candles is one of my project for next year ..... really nice !!! Have a lovely week end !

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    1. You too Geraldine! I'm sure you'll have fun making your own candles :)
      Cathy x

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