Candle Making Tips – How to Make Home Made Candles

There’s nothing new about candle making, people having been doing it for thousands of years.  But while it was once a common skill and a necessity for light to see at night, it is now somewhat of a ‘lost art’, although it is now gaining new popularity with craftspeople and other hobbyists.

Reasons For Making Candles

People are now making candles for many reasons.  They make candles:

• for their own practical use
• as a pastime to enjoy with their partner or older children
• as a hobby to unleash their creativity
• to create personalized gifts
• or even to start a new business by selling their wax creations

Candle making hobbyists find it extremely rewarding to make candles for themselves or to give as gifts or as creations to sell.  And starting is easy, many local craft stores will supply most if not all the items needed like molds, wax and wicks.  And as making candles continues to grow in popularity stores are expanding their range to include colors, fragrances and decorations.

Home Made Candles – How to Make Candles At Home

Get your double boiler ready.  What is a double boiler you ask?  Simply a large pot partially filled with water, with a smaller pot containing the un-melted wax which is then placed in the larger pot.  Having the layer of water in between the smaller pot and the heat source helps to prevent the wax from burning.

When the wax is melted and ready for pouring, hold the wick in place in the centre of your mold and carefully pour the wax in.

Next, go do something else!  Let the wax cool for 4 to 6 hours before removing the candle from the mold.  To make it easier to remove from the mold you can spray non-stick cooking spray right into the mold prior to pouring the wax.

Candle Making Molds

One of the best things about making home made candles is that the variety of styles, shapes, sizes and colors of the candles you can make is only limited by your imagination.  Many candle makers after achieving a certain amount of expertise go on to create their own molds so they truly have no limit to what they can create.

Of course you can use a vast range of jars, tins and containers of all sorts and other hard molds, but eventually some home candle makers like to go the extra mile and create their own latex molds where the sky is the limit.

One problem with latex molds though is that the mold is too flexible to support the weight of the wax without distorting its shape.  So all latex molds need a lip where a hard piece of cardboard or other device can be used to create a frame as a support structure, holding the latex mold up by its lip.

Selling Your Candle Creations

For those candle makers with an entrepreneurial flair, selling candle creations can also be a lucrative business.  You can save by buying all your supplies in bulk, and then by making beautiful or very unique and interesting candles and packaging them attractively, they can be sold at markets, in craft and gift shops, or online with an internet business.  Again, the sky is the limit!

While candle making is certainly an old art and even an old custom, there is no limit to the new ideas that can be applied to making candles at home.