Onthe 4th day of DIY... soy candle fun!

I recently had a grown up play date with my friend Andee to show her how to make soy candles to give as gifts to our friends and family this Christmas. I provided the wax, wicks and smelly stuff... while her task was to find some nice inexpensive holders for our creations. She went to a local thrift store and picked up a whole bunch of great glass containers that were just perfect for our project!

We decided to make soy candles although I also enjoy beeswax too! Soy is known for its soot free, clean burn that lasts and lasts. It holds scent very nicely and is eco friendly. I got mine from New Directions Aromatics, but you can get candle making kits at your local craft store.

Candle making is a fun and easy project that you can do in your own kitchen with relatively little equipment. All you need is...
 a pot
 pyrex jug
 scale
 stainless steel tablespoon
 wax of your choice (we used soy because of the clean burn)
 dye blocks (optional)
 wicks (to suit size of candle)
 fragrance oil or essential oils
 popsicle stick (you'll see why)

  And away we go!.....

First lay out some old newspaper on your pouring surface to prevent any damage and catch spills.



Set up your pot with a bit of water (a la Bain Marie)
Measure out wax in your pyrex jug (I like to work 1 lb at a time)
Turn stove on to medium ish (just under) heat and set jug in pot
Allow time for the wax to melt, stir to ensure even melt









Remove the wax from the heat and turn off the stove
Add your fragrance (1tsp per pound for EO, 1/4 oz per pound for FO)
Shave in colour if desired ( We tried mixing 1/8 of a block of red and a bit of blue, could have used twice as much to get deeper colour)

Wick setting

Now you want to get your wicks set and there are a couple of way to do it. You can use glue dots (highly recommend) or you can just wax set them. The only problem with wax setting them is that your wax will remelt and possibly dislodge the wick from its position. Allowing the wax to cool a bit before pouring is a good way to prevent wicks from moving too much.

Here, I set the wick in place and used popsicle sticks to hold it in place until the candle solidified.

 In general, your candles will probably need a couple of hours to set completely. We took a nice lunch break and came back to find our candles were ready!

Voila! Our finished candles!

                                    Aren't they pretty!