DIY Candles

If you are like me and keep a stock of candles on hand, then you too know how expensive candles can get, especially when apparently you just can't live without them... amiright? Anywho, my boyfriend knows me all to well and got me a DIY Candle Making Kit for Christmas. I was super excited about this, I always see these kinds of things advertised, its just one of those items that I wouldn't necessarily buy for myself  especially when that new pair of boots are sitting in my cart already. I finally found some time yesterday evening to put this kit to the test and see how easy/successful this DIY was going to be.

What did it come with?

• 900 ml capacity melting pot
• 6 packs of 8 oz soy wax
• 14 glue dots (these are more like stickers rather than actual glue dots, I almost threw it away until I realized what it actually was)
• 6 center devices (to stabilize the wicks when pouring in the liquid soy wax)
• 1 mixing spoon
• 6 different scented essential oils
• 6 die's
• 6 candle tins with lids

So when I received the gifts I noticed a pretty strong(pleasant) scent coming from the box like something was maybe leaking, and when I brought everything out of the package there was definitely an oily residue. I didn't notice anything leaking, so this was more of an annoyance than actual valuable product wasting. For some reason the idea of doing this sounded so time consuming to me, that's why it has taken so long for me to test out this gift. Honestly the most difficult part doing this is having to take out and dirty one of your own pots and then wait for water to boil 😅.

Steps for making DIY candles 

(the kit also comes with a detailed instruction manual, but in case you just happen to have the ingredients on hand but don't know how put everything together to get candles in the end, this is for you.)

Preparing your workspace

• Step 1: I would suggest getting a workspace ready in your kitchen right next to you stove top prior to starting anything. Put down a couple of layers of paper towels or newspapers on the countertop.
• Step 2: Pull out a medium sized saucepan- not the one you use to make spaghetti sauce, but maybe the one you use to boil a couple of eggs for your morning breakfast. (I made the mistake of pulling out the one I use to make spaghetti sauce- not a huge detrimental error, just kind of unnecessary and inconvenient and a larger pot to clean later. We like to avoid as many dishes as possible here.)
• Step 3: Fill up your chosen pot about a third of the way with water.
• Step 4: Since it's such a small amount of water I would just set it on the stove without heat for now while you get everything else ready.

Preparing your wax and candle tins or containers of choice

Tips before starting:

• Each soy wax pack contains enough wax to fill up one of the tins provided or a single 8 oz container (I didn't know this at first, it looked like it would fill up more than this.) 
• They say to use one 10 ml container of essential oils per each bag of wax. So there is enough scents to fill up each of your decorative candle tins provided.
• Open your chosen essential oil, take the little white insert thing out to make life easier. I used a butter knife to pry that sucker out...do it slowly.
• If you didn't buy the kit and you just have the ingredients, make sure you have a separate melting pot. It is important to not expose the wax to direct heat.

• Step 1: Pull out your handy melting pot and throw a bag of that wax in, a full container of essential oil, and as much, as little or no provided coloring (I thought food coloring might even work just as well, maybe I'll try that out next time)
• Step 2: Pull your thermometer out of the cover and stick it directly into your prepared wax mixture, secure it to the side of your melting pot.
• Step 3: Prepare your tins, you will just need one ready for this amount of wax, unless you added more than one bag of wax to your melting pot. Grab those wicks and pull out one of those glue dot sticker thingies, pull off the paper to reveal the sticky parts and secure the wick to the bottom of your candle container. ( I think when I run out of the provided stickies, I will just use super glue or a hot glue gun instead- just make sure the glue dries first).
• Step 4: Secure your wicks with the provided centering devices (haven't thought of anything just laying around the average house that could be used in place of these just yet, will edit again if I do, or please make suggestions if you can think of anything!)
• Step 5: Make sure your prepared candle tins/containers are set on top of your paper-towel/newspaper prepared workspace.
• Step 6: Get that water you prepared earlier boiling.
• Step 7: Put your melting pot with wax/coloring/essential oil into that water. I would use a pot holder for this step. The melting pot doesn't stay secure without you holding onto it while its in the boiling water, and I was using my bare hands last night, and lets just say it got hot.
• Step 8: Start mixing your wax mixture with the provided mixing spoon or a long drink mixing spoon, that most of us mixed drink lovers/former bartenders already have on hand.
• Step 9: Allow your mixture to reach between 170 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit, no more, no less. The provided manual is very explicit about making sure to not overheat the wax. At this point I started getting a little stressed as if when I blinked the thermometer was going to somehow have reached 215 degrees. Ridiculous I know, but that's just what my brain does.💁Melting and reaching that temperature took about 3-4 minutes from what I remember, I didn't have timer going, but that sounds pretty reasonable.
• Step 10: Carefully pull the melting pot out of the water and pour it into your tin or chosen candle home. (I think I will try mason jars next time). Try to get all of the was into the tin so you don't have any wax residue to clean up when doing these dishes, it's probably inevitable, but rinsing it out with some piping hot water should clear it all out.  Allow the wax to harden. I let mine sit on the counter all night, that seems like a pretty good rule of thumb.

I love this candle making DIY. I brought one to work with me and had it burning all morning and it smelled delightful. Once I run out of the provided materials, I will most definitely be in the market for some wax/ essential oils/ and candle wicks. Once that happens, I will post about where I replenished my candle making materials. Maybe I will touch on the cost/quality of homemade candles as compared with a good Yankee Candle. Thanks for reading! Enjoy your masterpiece!💖💖