Posts Tagged ‘making candles’

Making candles yourself is a wonderful pastime that is gaining in popularity. If you want to get started with this hobbya I suggest you start either with a molded candle or a container candle. You can find pretty detailed instructions at Candle Making Instructions but here's enough info to get you started.

Most people are familiar with the idea of a molded candle. The candle maker pours liquid wax into a mold, waits until it hardens, and then removes the finished candle. As the name implies, container candles remain within the the container into which to melt the wax is poured. This is usually a sturdy glass to allow the light to shine through.

You could buy a mold, but an empty milk carton makes it perfectly serviceable free mold for your first candle.

For your first container candle, I suggest using an 8 ounce canning jar. They are available everywhere and a very heat resistant so there's little chance of them cracking because of the candle's heat.

The next choice is what kind of wax you're going to use. {For your first projects I recommend using paraffin waxTo keep things simple, use paraffin wax}.  Paraffin wax is the most commonly used candle wax and is very versatile. There are other candle making wax options you can consider using later on but start with paraffin.

The next thing you need is a wick for your candles. There's a bit of an art to selecting the right wick for a given project, but that comes with experience. The main factor to consider is the diameter of the finished candle. You will almost always find wicks labeled with the recommended applications.

Most likely you want to color your candles. To do so, get a dye made specifically for candle wax.

Of coarse, you need to melt the wax. It's very important to remain safe. After all, waxes flammable so there's the potential risk of fire. Candle making is very safe if you use common sense and pay attention to some safety precautions.

I highly recommend that you always use a double boiler.

Prepare either the mold or container that you going to use. Do this by attaching the wick to the center of the bottom using a small bit of masking tape. Then tie the other end to a pencil or some other stick placed across the top of the container to hold the wick upright.

As a safety measure I consider it absolutely necessary to use a double boiler when melting wax. It's also very good idea to use a thermometer to keep track of the temperature of the melting wax.

Heat the wax to about 190°. If you want to color the candle, add dye at this point, mixing in a little at a time.

Now pour the wax into the mold or the container. Obviously be a little careful as you do this. Save a little of the wax for what we call the second pour.

As the wax cools, it will usually cave in across the top because of shrinkage. That's where the second pour comes in. Remelt the wax and pour it onto the top of the candle until it is even.

Let this harden and the candle is done. , light itWith container candle, you simply need to trim the wick to about 1/4 inch. With a milk carton mold, strip it away from the finished candle and trim the wick.

Of course you can make a lot more complicated candles than these, but these are great starting projects. If you had several molds or containers, it's almost as easy to make a dozen candles as it is to make one. I hope the instructions you received here encourage you to give candle making a try.

These instructions are the barest introduction to candle making. To get detailed guidance on the intricacies of the different waxes, wicks, dyes, fragrances, other candle making projects and so forth you definitely need to visit:

http://www.candlemakingconnection.com/Home-Candle-Making-Made-Easy.html

May your candles burn brightly!

Making your own candles is an increasingly popular hobby. Even though no one really needs candles to light their homes anymore, candles have always remained popular. It's even more enjoyable when you've crafted the candle yourself.

When you get started with candle making you're tapping into a historic craft. Though we take it for granted, it took centuries of trial and error and experimentation to produce candles anything close to the quality we routinely enjoy. Making your own candles honors that tradition.

But where to begin? We've all seen very elaborate candles in specialty boutiques that are obviously beyond the capabilities of to a beginner. But even making a simple candle such as a pillar candle can be quite involved. There are more ways to go wrong than you might think.

There are a wide assortment of techniques that can be used. There many different types of candle waxes and candle wax available to today's candle maker . All of these waxes perform differently. A candle maker needs to pick the wax that's most appropriate for the project at hand.

Beyond that, experienced candle makers use special additives to enhance both the performance and the appearance of their candles. That's another whole range of decisions that need to be made.

Then there's the question of wicks. Picking the correct size is crucial, but their other considerations as well. Primed or unprimed? What's the best weave for this candle? Should I use a wick with a core or not?

And that's just considering basic wax and wick decisions. Beyond that there's a whole question of dyes and fragrances and decorations and...

It's pretty clear that all this might be a little overwhelming for somebody trying to get started making their own candles.

I found a new e-book that I believe is the answer to this dilemma. It's called Home Candle Making Made Easy. It's a gem of a book.

It's written by Jeff Beckwith who's been a candle making enthusiast since he made his first candles in his grandmother's kitchen using canning wax. Although he's somewhat of an expert, he never comes across like that. Instead, it's kind of like having a buddy tell you about silly mistakes they made so you won't do the same thing yourself.

It's remarkable how much time and frustration a little bit of key information can save. This book gives you such information in an easy-to-read format.

If you're considering taking up to craft of candle making I strongly recommend that you get this book. It will shorten your learning curve tremendously in virtually guarantee success from your very first project. You will get the details at:

Home Candle Making Made Easy

And if you want a short introduction to candle making, go to the homepage on Jeff's site

http://www.candlemakingconnection.com/

Be sure to sign up for the free candle making mini course.

Candle making is a fun and enjoyable hobby and I encourage you to get this book and get started today.

Today, candle makers most often use molds to shape their candles. Using a mold, a candle can be made in virtually any shape imaginable. 

There are two concepts that need to be considered when evaluating a candle making mold and shape. These characteristics are draft and undercut.

Let’s talk about draft first. Draft is the degree of taper in a mold. The taper makes it possible for the finished candle to slide out of the mold when it has hardened.

Molds with parallel sides also work because wax shrinks enough as it cools to allow it to slide out of the mold.

The other concept is undercutting. An undercut is a protrusion or an irregularity in the side of a candle that would keep it from sliding out. This becomes a factor when using molds to make candles of more complex shapes.

If the form you want to make has undercuts, you can’t use a one-piece solid mold. Fortunately, there are a couple of options. One is to use a mold with multiple parts that can be separated after the candle has hardened. Another solution is to use a very flexible mold that can be stretched to allow removal of the finished candle.

Two-part molds work well for making candles that are symmetrical.  You could also use a flexible mold, but it isn't required for this type of shape and rigid multi-part molds are more durable. When using a two-part mold, the candle maker clamps the two halves together, positions the wick, pours the candle, and finally separates the two halves of the mold after the wax has hardened.

The other way to deal with the problem of undercutting is to use a mold made out of a very flexible substance that can be stretched off the candle much the way you might stretch a latex glove to remove it from your hand. Silicone is probably the premium material for making flexible molds, but other materials work almost as well and the less expensive.

To find out more about this subject visit: Candle Making Molds

While you’re there, definitely sign up for your free candle making mini-course. You may also want to check out:

Candle Making Wax

You'll definitely be surprised when you see how many choices you have concerning this most basic material!

May be the most helpful tip I can give you that will help you save time and money and avoid frustration is to check out Home Candle Making Made Easy

That book will help you almost completely eliminate the learning curve and have you producing flawless candles from your first attempts.

It’s interesting how things come and go, being standard for a while, then falling out of favor and then coming back in popularity. It certainly is the case with home candle making. I recently visited a page (Home Candle Making) that made it pretty clear.

It used to be that making candles was a necessary household chore if they wanted to be able to have light in their home after the sunset. Home candle making used to be a rather unpleasant task. For centuries, the most common candles were made from tallow, a processed animal fat. Tallow candles couldn’t “hold a candle” to today’s candles (sorry – couldn’t help myself).

That changed with the almost simultaneous arrival of paraffin and the Industrial Revolution. People readily gave up the chore of making hundreds of candles to light their home for the year once affordable, clean burning candles became commercially available and affordable.

As you well know, incandescent electric lights have become the preferred way to light our homes, but people still enjoy using candles. However, most people no longer make their own.

Because candles are so symbolic, they often used as part of rituals such as church services and weddings. Homemakers use candles to crate an inviting atmosphere in their home, especially when entertaining. And of course candle light is always associated with the romantic dinner, whether at home or out at a fancy restaurant.

So even though we no longer need candles, we continue to enjoy using them. However, for many years almost no one made their own candles.  Now the cycle is moving full circle and candle making is moving back into the home. More and more people are becoming involved with the engaging hobby of making your own candles.

In fact, in many ways a homemade candle is superior to a purchased one because the chandler (candle maker) can personalize their creations.

If you want to try making a candle at home, the simplest way to get started is to make a rolled candle using a purchased sheet of wax.  This is great for beginners to try their hand at candle making. you form a candle from the wax by rolling it tightly around a wick.

After that you can move on to other forms of candles. A good place to find out how is: How to Make Your Own Candles.  While you're there, be sure to sign up for their free candle making mini-course.

If you think you're interested in trying candle making, probably the best resource I can point you to is Home Candle Making Made Easy. That ebook tells you everything you need to know to start making all kinds of candles.

If you want to begin a new hobby, try candle making. All that is required is a few simple candle making equipment and some easily obtained supplies. Once you begin making your own candles, you may find that the you enjoy these candles much more than anything that is available commercially. it's nice to be able to customize your candles to suit your own preferences.

To get started making candles, you'll need a few basic supplies. These include: wax, wicks, molds or containers, candle scents and dyes. You are also going to need a double boiler in which you can melt the wax.

If you decide to make candle making a regular hobby you may want to purchase a double boiler specifically for your craft. However, if your are just trying, you may want to use a coffee can and a pot. Bend the edge of the coffee into a pouring spout.

Molds can be as simple as a pint milk carton or votive cups. Even heavy paper cups will work to make candles.

Melt the wax using a double boiler. Place paraffin in the coffee can. Set inside the larger can and add water so that it is low enough that is twill not overflow into the smaller can. Carefully heat the wax until it is melted. After melting, you can add scent or coloring if you would like.

The wicks can be suspended from the dowel rods and centered over the tops of the molds. Pour in the wax, let it cool and you've finished your first candle.

As you've probably noticed, it doesn't take much equipment to get started. However this is only a very basic beginners list. You can find out more details at Candle Making Equipment.

When I first started making candles I was surprised (and even a little confused) by just how many varieties of wax that one has to choose from. Take a look at Candle Making Wax. I bet you'll find some waxes you never heard of before.

When you're on that site make sure you sign up for their free candle making mini course. It's and easy way to get some free guidance starting out.

If you want even more information on candle making, then my best recommendation for you is Home Candle Making Made Easy. it's a easy to understand e-book that covers all aspects of making a wide variety of candles. Using that book, you'll avoid all the mistakes most beginners make and be guaranteed success from the start. I recommend it highly.

The main thing is to get started making your first candle so you can see just how easy and enjoyable it is.

Candles are one of the earliest sources of light. They're nothing new, but that doesn't mean they can't continue to improve. One of the recent changes in the world of candle making has been the development of soy candle wax.

For centuries, the main fuel for candles was tallow. While tallow did burn, tallow doesn't make a good candle. They create a lot of smoke when they burn and they also give off a stench . That is why paraffin took over once it became available.

These days, however, some people object to using paraffin because it is a petroleum product. Because of this, there's been so much interest in developing a "green" alternative to paraffin. Soy candle wax resulted from this search.

Soy beans are a good source of oil. However, soybean oil isn't solid so it's not suitable for making candles. But if you change the chemistry of an oil you can change the temperature at which it becomes solid.

Whether a fat is liquid or solid at room temperature depends on how many hydrogen molecules it contains. Fat molecules contain hydrogen atoms and a fat is "saturated" if it's holding the maximum possible. It's possible to saturate an unsaturated fat by adding hydrogen. That changes the oil from liquid to solid.

Now that description admittedly simplifies the situation, and the soybean oil is treated in different ways buy different manufactures, but all we need to know is the outcome: soy candle wax.

Pure soy wax is soft. this means it's great for making container candles but not so great for making pillars that need to stand on their own. You can compensate for that problem by blending soy wax with paraffin and hardening additives. If you do that, the resultant wax can be used for many more types of candles.

However, if you are going to use 100% soy wax you will probably get the best results if you use it to make container candles. You are probably familiar with container candles. These are candles in which the melted wax is poured into a nonflammable container with the wick positioned in the center. Other styles of candles are removed from the mold when the wax hardens. With container candles, the candle remains in its "mold".

Of course there is much more to learn about soy wax and how to use it. One the best places to get details on it is:

Soy Candle Wax

And of course if you're interested in soy candle wax you'll probably be interested in how to make a candle with. You can pick up some soy candle making tips at: How to Make Soy Candles.

Better yet, I suggest you take a look at the e-book Home Candle Making Made Easy.

That book reveals insider secrets on all aspects of candle making from selecting what type of wax to use for specific situations, what additives to use and when, the best way to scent candles, and so much more... Getting the information this book will guarantee your success.

Candle making is a wonderful hobby. Get Home Candle Making Made Easy today and get started.

There is a lot of information about candlemaking that is available today online, and while you have to check that it is indeed good information, the wealth of knowledge at our finger tips is amazing. For example, you can find out how to make scented jar candles, or you can find out why gel candles are so popular nowadays. You can find out where to get the best quality candle making supplies, and you can work out how much it will cost you before you invest in any supplies.

The internet have brought so much information to people, along with some bad stuff too of course, but when you look at candle making at home, you can easily confirm advice, and use the advice that sounds best to you. With a large selection of candles that you can make, and a variety of colors, aromas and shapes for to choose from, you have a great deal of choice about candle making at home.

For example, bees wax is sold in flat sheets of wax in different colors, and each sheet can make two bees wax candles just by cutting the sheet in half. After cutting them, these sheets of wax are then rolled tightly around a wick of a suitable length and that's all there is to having a beeswax candle finished ready to light.

But, if you are going to make gel candles so that you can customize them with embedded trinkets, then you need to heat the gel in a double boiler, or equivalent, to a high temperature. The same thing applies to making soy candles, or paraffin wax candles, the wax has to be melted first.

The reason this is so important is that bees wax candles can be made by people of all ages at home or anywhere, since there is no heating of the wax to worry about. For beeswax candles you do need to warm the candle wax a little to seal the edge of the wax sheet to itself, but this can easily be done just with the warmth from your fingers - no stove is needed. So beeswax candles are ideal for children who want to make a craft, perhaps for mother's day as they require few supplies, and few skills.

If, however the candle not be as you wanted it to look, the good thing about wax is that you can just heat it to melt it so you can begin again. So if the beeswax sheet of wax gets broken, it can always be carefully melted by an adult, and poured into a mold container, with a wick added of course. This means that there is little waste when candle making, because you can always just begin again. It is useful to be able to melt all the remaining pieces of candles left when they have burnt through, and with all these pieces, you will probably be able to make another candle.

Whatever color of candles you prefer to make, candle making is a good hobby to create at home on those dreary winter evenings. To begin with, by heating up the wax, you will feel a little warmer, since it is not advisable for you to leave the melting wax unwatched. Then there are the different aromas you can choose, that may bring back different memories, perhaps. Undoubtably, to make candles at home on a long winter's night, where you have something lovely to show for your efforts by the end of the evening, is a pleasant way of spending an evening.

I think everyone enjoys the soft glow of candlelight.  If you've made the candle yourself, the gentle light seems even more pleasant. When you take up the craft of candle making you can enjoy this pleasure as often as you'd like.

Making candles is a great hobby for a lot of reasons.  Few other hobbies are as accessible. You can start out with a very simple equipment. Beginners can make great candles right away yet there are advanced techniques that they can grow into.

Another benefit of the hobby is at the final product is so useful and enjoyable.  Not only do you get to enjoy the process of making the candles and enjoy their beauty, you can light them to make any occasion special.

You can make your first candle without even having to melt wax. A straightforward starter project uses sheets of beeswax that are soft enough to roll around a wick.

Another good project for beginners is to make a container candle. A container candle is one where the candle is formed by pouring melted wax into a suitable container with a wick in place.

Making a candle this way eliminates working with and removing molds. The main thing to be aware of in making a container candle is to never use a flammable container or one that might crack under exposure to the heat of a candle flame. In general, metal and heat resistant glass containers work well.

If you want to find out more about how to make your own candles, you can get on the information you need at: Candle Making Connection.

In fact, you can even sign up for a free mini course on candle making.

You definitely want to check out the page Candle Making Wax. After all wax is the primary ingredient of the candle. I think you'll be surprised all the options out there.

If you want to get the best possible results as quickly as possible, then I definitely recommend that you consider getting Home Candle Making Made Easy. This comprehensive e-book is as close as you can come to have an expert candle maker by your side giving you advice.

I hope you give candle making a try. It's a great hobby and one it's easy to start. If you have a craft store close by, you could be enjoying your own candles as soon as tonight.

Because candles have many uses year round, they are the perfect gift for just about any holiday or special occasion. Making a gift yourself always makes it feel personalized and special to the person you are giving it to. Many people also love making their own candles because it is an affordable craft to make.

When you get started, the first thing you'll want to do is to make sure you have all of your supplies together and easy to reach. The most basic things you will need include a double boiler for melting the wax, a block of wax or wax chips, fragrance oil, wick, dye, metal spoon, and a jar. If you want to make your candles into shapes, you may also want to consider using a candle mold for making your candles. Once you have the materials prepared, you are ready to start making your candles.

The first thing you need to do to make candles is to melt your wax. There are a wide variety of different waxes to choose from. Soy candles are popular because it is very easy to work with, but many still prefer the traditional paraffin based waxes. You can melt wax in the oven, or some may even use a microwave. One of the easiest ways however is to use a double boiler on the stovetop.

After you melt the wax, you can next stir in the dyes and fragrances you will be using. Once you get the basics of candle making down, you can experiement with many different colors and fragrances to find what your favorites are. Be sure you read the directions on each, since they may have their own special set of instructions to follow.

Once the wax is melted with the scented oil and dyes, you are ready to pour it carefully into your candle holder. You will want to make sure you pour it in slowly and carefully, since it is very hot and may possibly burn you. Once you have poured the wax, you are now ready to insert the wick. One way to keep the wick in place while you wait for the wax to cool is to use a pencil. Simply tie one end of the wick to the pencil and then rest it across the jar.

Once the wax is set, you have successfully finished making the candle. Other ways to further personalize your gift include decorating the jar, attaching bows, or including a special message. Everyone you give a homemade candle to will surely love it. The best part? They won't even realize how simple it is to create!