Burn for scents

I have never really been big on candles, but once I moved in with my man I soon realized we would be going through a lot of candles.

I soon decided to give candle making a try... and boy do I wish I didn't have to use my kitchen. The wax gets everywhere! And it gets stuck on stove coils, in your drain, on your counter, in your pot... Oh, it's just a clean freak's worst nightmare (good thing I'm not one! haha).

So bare in mind... this is a messy project, and it's not the cheapest hobby in the world.

I recommend having a buddy, I used my best friend, Jess, for quick production. I honestly don't think we even looked up how to make candles before we gave it a try... That's just who we are.
It really is a simple strategy - we used soy wax which comes in chips - so basically you melt the chips, move to another container, stir in colouring, and scent and pour into a glass or other container (with wick pre-set by you).
The wicks are the tricky part we found... we initially dipped the wick in hot wax and put it in the bottom of the container. It worked well until we poured hot wax on wax... you can imagine the hardened wax had become liquid again and foiled that plan...
We soon realized hot glue was the very best option - comes off of glass easily when you want to reuse the container, and won't melt once it's hardened (at least not by hot wax).

Here is some of our batch;




I have made candles a whole 2 times, which doesn't make me an expert by any means, but here are my tips;

1. Use a measuring cup to measure wax chips, keep in mind that the liquid measurement will be less
2. Buy a pot just for making candles
3. I recommend this site for supplies - Canwax
4. I use glassware for my containers, I found Canadian Tire to have the best deal - Porcelain Tumblers, 6-pk
5. Don't stir in colour in the melting pot unless you plan on only doing one colour
6. Stick your wicks down with hot glue
7. Try not to get the scents all over your hands... eating will be unappetizing
8. Don't move the candles or the wicks when they are drying
9. Keep a production line in place so you don't forget to add a scent to the candle
10. If you drop wax, if at all possible, clean immediately to save you some heartache

I make candles every year as a gift, and they are always well received. I like to do 12 candles (one for every month) with a different scent a month. Good luck!

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