Candle Making » Candlemaking Techniques

Easy Beeswax Leaf Candle

SandraW — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:18:45 +0000

I found this fun maple leaf cookie cutter to dress up some of my pillar candles. There is also a pumpkin and a turkey in the set that are perfect for halloween or thanksgiving. Just use the cookie cutter to press and cut the shapes out of the beeswax and stick them on.

My children took off with my camera and it’s nowhere to be found but I snapped one of the candle with my husband’s cell phone.

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Create colorful chunk candles

SandraW — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:04:41 +0000

If you have a few wax bits around that you don’t know what to do with, try recycling them into a beautiful chunk candle!

If you don’t, you can still make your own chunks. Just pour some colored wax onto cookie sheets about a half inch and cut into pieces once cooled.

First, thread your cotton wick through your mold and seal with putty or a plug. Then fill the mold until it’s almost full with chunks. I like lots of chunks anyway.

Heat some wax to it’s specified melting point and add color and scent if desired. I added vanilla scent for candles because that’s what I have left and a tiny bit of solid yellow dye.

Pour the melted wax slowly into the mold and over the chunks. This particular mold only required about a half a pound of wax since it was so full of chunks. It measures 3 and ¾ inches by 6.

Cool and save some wax for a second pour if you get a sink hole. Wait for it to cool again and release from the mold. The hardest part of making this chunk candle for me was the waiting.

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Embossed Candles

SandraW — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:00:10 +0000

These embossed candles are so pretty and I would love to learn how to recreate the effect. Shown here is a romantic design called vintage rose but the fern is also very striking.

Check out VickiChigagoMarsh.com to see more.

If you want to make your own simpler embossed/stamped candle check out one of my favorite sites for instructions, Gothic Martha Stewart.

eHow also has some very detailed instructions. See How to make an embossed candle.

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Elegant Beaded Candle Project from Michaels

SandraW — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:24:42 +0000

This is one of the most beautiful beaded candles I have seen. Thanks to Michael’s craft store you can recreate the elegant beaded candle project with their easy step by step instructions.

The glass prima pillar holder really sets the candle off and would reflect nicely off the gems and glass beads.

On this particular candle they used silver, red and green glass beads for the holidays but you could use any color you wanted depending on the occasion and color scheme.

I think gold or silver beads on a black candle would be very striking and elegant.

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Create Decorative Beeswax Candles

SandraW — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:01:47 +0000

I found two fun videos from Expert Village on how to make decorative beeswax candles from things around the house. Rachel uses cookie cutters, bottle caps and a knife to create flowers from colored beeswax.

In the first video Rachel shows us how to make the flowers. See: How to cut wax shapes for candles

In the second video she shows us how to attach the flowers to candles. This could be as colorful or busy as you want. Beeswax comes in sheets and you can it find in various colors to use for decorating. See: How to add wax shapes to candles

You can find the beeswax sheets at Country Lane Candle Supplies & Soap Expressions. Making rolled beeswax candles is easy and they make pretty, practical and colorful gifts. You can make layers of colors and decorate them with one or more of your cookie cutter flowers.

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Fish bowl candle

SandraW — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:18:57 +0000

It’s a little late to make this fish bowl gel candle a Father’s Day present but it gave me an idea for the next special occasion. You can find the Fish Bowl Forever Candle at the Gel Candle Company.

They have the most striking and realistic looking candles with butterflies, flowers, fairies and even cars.

The great thing about these candles is that they have an opening in the middle where you burn a tea light. The outer gel glows but of course does not burn.

If you wanted to make your own fish bowl gel candle, you could buy fish gel candle embeds like the ones at GelStuff.com. They also carry fragrance oils, dye blocks, wicks, wax and labels for gel candles.

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Make a seashell gel candle

SandraW — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:18:40 +0000

This is a gel candle I made with seashell embeds. They’re attractive and easy to create. All you need is the gel made specifically for candles, wicks, a thermometer, seashells, dye if desired, a double boiler and a glass container.

To attach the wick onto the bottom of the candle and prevent it from floating I used a wick stickum. It’s basically a double sided sticker so one end sticks to the wick tab and the other to the glass container. I purchased these wicks pretabbed but they’re not hard to make with a pair of needle nose pliers.

I heated the gel until it was 180 degrees Fahrenheit and then added a little blue dye. You only need a tiny bit of dye with gel. Make sure your dye is safe for gel candles because some dyes don’t break down properly.

The slower you pour your gel, the fewer bubbles you will have. I was actually hoping for more bubbles because I was going for a bubbly ocean look.

To keep the wick straight I just used a pencil but any sort of stick would work. It didn’t take long for the gel to harden. Someone poked at them while hardening but they still turned out fine. One is in a regular glass container and the other is a baby food jar. I think the result is beautiful especially for my first try with gel.

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Gel Wedding & Party Candle Favors

SandraW — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:33:56 +0000

If you’re planning a wedding, shower or any other party these gel candle favors are bound to be a hit. I found them at Wedding Reception Ideas but they would work for almost any occasion.

The flutes with fall leaves are beautiful and you could customize it with other plants so don’t have to go with the fall theme. I love how they used red colored gel at the top of this design.

This fuschia orchid gel candle would brighten up any summer gathering. I love it’s simplicity and it is cheerful and elegant at the same time.

If you’re making your own you could tailor the color and type of flower to your theme. Check out Wedding Reception Ideas for more gorgeous gel candle favors.

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Hot Fudge Sundae & Pumpkin Tart Projects

SandraW — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:21:58 +0000

Here’s a couple hands on projects for those who want to create some yummy candles. CraftBits.com offer many other candle making projects for free. I chose these two because they look so delicious and we can make them smell good enough to eat.

The hot fudge sundae is made with wax and vanilla scent although I would suggest adding chocolate scent but I’m a chocolate fiend. The cherry on top is a nice touch also. You can just roll up a little soft red or pink wax into a ball for that. See the Hot Fudge Sundae project page for full instructions.

For the spiced pumpkin tart they used a little aluminum pie tin and explain how to make the pie shell and crimp the edges. Sounds fun without the calories. I love pumpkin pie but it doesn’t last around here. Pumpkin candles can be enjoyed much longer. Check out the Spiced Pumpkin Tart project on CraftBits for more.

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Holiday Gel Candles

SandraW — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:55:27 +0000

It took me awhile but I found some festive Christmas gel candles at DMB Expressions. There are several candles to choose from but this one includes sand, santa, a tree and present. Something like this would be fun to create.

They use pieces of gel to create the look of snow. A creative candle project that would make a nice present would be placing a miniature nativity scene inside the gel.

If you would like to make your own holiday gel candle Gel Tyme has a large selection of wax embeds for candle making. They have gingerbread men, gumdrops, trees, snowflakes and more.

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