You don’t have to take up a strenuous sport or travel around to world to boost your mood – crafting with your hands is an activity that’s sure to stimulate your brain the right way, relieving stress, improving focus and physical dexterity. Candle making is one of those tried and tested crafts you can experiment with, guaranteed to give you a sense of confidence and accomplishment.
It’s a type of hobby that can provide you with lots of fun as you pick out and use different ingredients such as a range of candle fragrance oils and moulding waxes. Additionally, it can help you showcase more of who you are through the specific candles you create, whether you prefer them to be primarily for use with wellness and relaxation or decoration – or both. Don’t be surprised if once you become a chandler (i.e. candle maker) the whole family wants to join in on the hobby.
Before you know it, you’re saving up on buying candles, surprising loved ones with a special gift and burning something you created with ingredients you know are clean and good for the health and well-being. Moreover, this relaxing hobby can easily become your side hustle too; think of how much creating wedding candles can contribute to your budget without having to splurge on equipment or particular investments.
What Items Are Needed for Candle Making?
Okay, before you spend all your money on anything and everything you see related to this fun and unique hobby, let’s focus on what matters – the basics.
Decide on the Scent
While yes, the wax is the base you get to work with, deciding on the scent first and foremost is crucial as it’s a decisive factor with the candle’s purpose, the throw and whether or not certain scents work together – which calls for experiments. The type of oils you use is more important than it seems given that not all essential oils work.
To make sure you get the expected result, it’s necessary to invest in quality candle fragrance oils as they’re highly concentrated and formulated to work with wax to provide the scent throw you want to get. Too much oil doesn’t result in larger scent throw – it could end up weighing down in your wax.
As there are various options, take your time to consider the scents, the blend you intend to create, and the manufacturer’s instructions. Even if buying online, there should be info provided, such as technical details to know more of their properties and how to use them for your candles, with the specific dosage indicated for each oil.
To be on the safe side, always start out with a small batch as a test and see how the ingredients of scent, wax and wick work together as all these can affect how the wax wicks up and the candle burns. Once you’re sure you’ve created the perfect mix, you can move on to larger batches for yourself, loved ones, or even a business.
Pick Out the Wax
Paraffin is one of the types of wax that have been used worldwide for the creation of candles over the years because of availability and low price, but there’s been a lot of talk about burning paraffin candles releasing toxic chemicals in the air. It makes for easy candle-making, sure, and offers a leisurely burn, but if you want some safer alternatives, you have three great choices: soy wax, beeswax and coconut wax.
Out of these three, soy is the one that’s preferred by vegans and beginners alike. As it’s got no scent on its own, it’s perfect for mixing up with your own signature scents of fragrance oils for candles, counting on a low melting point. Beeswax is one of the products of sustainable honey farming, famous for the natural sweet scent and high melting point. There’s the middle ground with the coconut wax which offers both a slow burn and a great scent throw.
Select the Proper Wick
The reason there are different options of wicks in the market is because they’re meant for the different candles you create; bigger wicks are ideal for bigger and denser candles and waxes. Before choosing, decide on the container or mould and consider its diameter. Then, you can make up your mind, choosing between cotton and wood types of wick.
Cotton is an eco friendly option used for years because of the ease of use and versatility. Wood offers a unique result because of the texture, properties that give off a crackling sound when burning, and the incredible aesthetic touch it provides for the finish of the candle. To apply, you can rely on supplies like wick stickers and glue dots. There’s also a third option that’s growing in popularity which is hemp, famous for its sustainability, cleaner and slower plus safer and even burn. It’s also longer lasting and produces less soot.
Choose the Ideal Container
From being crucial for support and structure to having an effect on the aesthetics, the container you choose for your candles is as important as the choice of fragrance oils in candles, wax and wick types. From moulds to tins, jars and ceramic containers, you have various options available.
This makes it important to be aware of whether or not they’re suitable for candle-making so you know if they can support the heat and prevent any burning accidents from happening. While you can repurpose old moulds, tins, jars and containers, it’s best to invest in adequate ones for candles, especially if you plan on a more aesthetic finish.
Want to save up on this purchase? Consider buying from a thrift store or pay a flea market a visit. And, to be on the safe side, much like when mixing the different oils, do a test first with one container to see how suitable it is for your project.
Gather Essential Supplies
You don’t necessarily have to go all in on the supplies, but investing in some helpful tools can make your project smooth, efficient and a whole lot more enjoyable and easy. The following should be among your essentials:
- Stirring tool – It may be tempting to use a metal spoon you have in your kitchen, but to avoid burns, it’s best to use a wood or silicone spoon instead as your stirring tool.
- Thermometer – Have a kitchen thermometer? Perfect, you can rely on it to monitor the wax temperature to know when to use the candle fragrance oils and when to pour the contents in the moulds or containers.
- Wick trimmer – This tool is handy with cutting the wicks to the ideal length for your candles.
- Wick holder – Don’t have chopsticks or straws to hold the wicks in place as you pour the wax? A clothespin would do too. It’s an essential as it helps prevent the wick from falling out.
- Double boiler – Much like when melting chocolate, you need a double boiler to melt the wax. Not sure about investing in one? Create your own by using a heat-safe pitcher in simmering water.