I also really have gotten into making my own candles. I wanted to make them with materials I didn't have to worry about burning in my home and being toxic. I knew if I made them myself I could make them safer
So with it being Christmas and my new favs to make, I decided to do a homemade Christmas! After all who doesn't love wonderful soaps and candles? Oh and a little scented bath salt to go with!
In this blog I'll start with the making of candles. I swear if I knew how easy this was I would have been doing this a long time ago and not spending so much money on the soy safer ones.
For my supplies I bought soy flakes from bulkapothecary.com, low smoke organic wicks from amazon, and lavender essential oil from Whole Foods. I also purchased a pouring pot from Amazon. I already had a candle thermometer, if you don't you will need one.
For the Christmas candles I decided to make them in jam Ball jars. Which makes this whole process incredibly easy. Ready?
1lb of flakes will fill 3 jars with candles. Put the flakes into the pouring pot along with the candy thermometer. Put the pouring pot into another bigger pot and fill that pot, not the pouring pot, with water until it is halfway up the side of the pouring pot. Put the heat on high simmer. (basically you are doing a double boiler) When the wax is melting I like to take a wooden chopstick and stir it to make sure it all gets mixed in. Then once it reaches 180 it's done melting. Take out the pouring pot and let it cool until it reaches 100 before putting in essential scented oils. I use 1 oz per lb of wax. If you put the oils in before it has cooled off you can loose the scent. Oils have what is called a flashpoint, which basically means it will burn out the scent if you add it when it's too hot. If you aren't using oils just pour it without.
before pouring the wax into the jars I take the ends of my wicks and dip them into the hot wax then put them onto the bottom of my jar and press with the chopstick to make them stick. This will keep them in place. Once they are set pour in your wax. After I pour the wax I take a wooden clothespin and clip it to thick at the top of the jar. This will hold in in the center while your wax dries.
Now let it sit until its cool and the wax is set. That is all there is to it!
I added some sparkly wreaths to the lid and tada! Homemade lavender candles
How easy is that?
Give it a shot! You will be shocked at how easy it is to do.
Next up........Making soap!
