DIY candles - Or how I spend a gross hot Saturday afternoon

So I finally did it! I finally checked off one of my items on my Pinterest to do list. Saturday (as my title suggests) was a disgustingly hot and humid day in Toronto, and the pooch and I are no fans of heat or humidity (our hair simply can't handle it) so it looked like it was going to be another hide out in a/c kinda day, but what to do? Sure I could have cleaned, done laundry or organized the kitchen, but that's not fun, crafting on the other hand is fun, and can also be very rewarding. So off to my little shelf of craft supplies to pull out my votive candle making kit I purchased from Michaels last year.

(The kit all laid out)

(Read all the instructions, but don't make any up ;) )

I am not going to lie, I was bit apprehensive to do it, I thought somewhere in the instructions I read that the wax was easily flammable and not to go above the 170F or it would light on fire instantly. Little back story, I have a few fears in my life, fire being one of them (I know I know, I'm afraid of fire and yet I am making candles, well they're pretty and smell nice and as long as I have a BBQ lighter to light them all is good) so reading that, or at least thinking that I read that, well it terrified me. Now I know that the flash point of the wax is about double that of which I needed to heat it to and I apparently made the instructions up in my head.

(Charlie cooling off on the tile)

So first things first, when you have a dog you must make sure the dog is tired before you attempt anything in the kitchen with hot melted substances (my dog can be a bit nosy and when he thinks there is food involved he's right behind me waiting for something to drop). Dog + Hot substances = Disaster. So naturally I tired him out, unfortunately it was too hot to go for a big long hike, so a quick walk and a bit of chase the Charlie and he was out and I was ready to start making candles!

(Safety first)

Next I prepped my work station. In the instructions it says to lay out newspaper or wax paper (really anything that you don't care if it gets wax on it) to protect your counter top (trust me on this one, you may think you won't spill, but chances are you will). I also got out my handy dandy fire extinguisher just in case.

(Good way to get out any aggression)

The wax that comes in this particular kit was in a solid block, and as you can imagine, melting the solid block would take a very long time, so I grabbed my hammer and started smashing it into smaller pieces.

(Using a double boiler to melt my wax)

Now that I had broken my wax down a bit (I didn't use all of the wax, maybe about 3/4 of the brick) I put it in my metal jug and onto a double boiler (this helps distribute the heat more evenly, but I was bad later on and did not use the double boiler, but I watched the wax and the temperature very closely).

(It's starting to melt!)

It didn't take very long for the wax to start melting, and at this point the terror of my kitchen bursting into flames was pretty much gone.

(Almost there)

Once the wax was completely melted I added half of the colour stick (that's what the instructions said), but I ended up adding a little bit more when all was said and done. You can test the colour by placing a drop of wax on a white piece of paper.

(Already added the colour, now just adding the scent)

I forgot to take a picture of the colour stick melting, but here is a picture of the scent brick melting. Again the instructions say to add about 1/4 and then add more to your liking. This part was a bit confusing for me because it says not to add the scent to early because the scent will evaporate in the hot wax, but I didn't know if I had to let the wax cool down, and if so to what temperature,  but you also wanted the wax hot to pour it so it would make a smooth candle, so I made an executive decision and took my jug out of the double boiler and added the scent. I ended up adding more and putting it back in the double boiler to melt it faster (it worked out just fine).

(This is where the frustration started)

Now it was time to pour the wax. The instructions said to first pour the wax, then add the wicks and move them to the center using the wooden reed provided. This is where I just about lost it. So pouring was fine, I poured it carefully and quickly so to hopefully make a smooth candle with no bubbles, then I tried to add the wicks. The initial placing it in was ok, but then the wicks starting bending over, like you can see above, and trying to manipulate them in hot wax with that stupid little wooden reed was one of the most infuriating things I have ever had to do. In fact I ended up ripping one of the wicks out of it's metal holder, and then attempted to remove the metal holder with the stupid reed and then a fork and it wouldn't come out, so I just added another wick (cause really no one will notice the two metal holders inside).

(Using the reed to keep the wick upright)

After about 15-20 minutes you are suppose to pull the wick to shift it back into the center, trust me they are not going to stay upright, and doing that makes a bit of a mess of your candle (yes you do add a bit more wax to top it off due to shrinkage), so I ended up using that stupid little reed to prop up one of my wicks (I used a set of chopsticks on another one).

(My first ever homemade candles, don't look too bad)

Once I had the wicks sorted out and had topped up the candles, I left them to set for about two hours. Then I placed them in the freezer for about 20 minutes to help them pop out of the molds easily (trust me after all the frustration I had with the wicks, the last thing I wanted was a bunch of candles stuck in their molds). And voila they slid out nice and easy and there before me was my first ever homemade candles. The one on the right was my best (it had the stupid reed holding the wick up) the middle one, you can kinda see the track marks of the chopsticks (I guess I didn't notice that when I topped up the candle the chopstick was now in the wax) and the sad little one of the left was my double metal wick holder, but hey it looks not too bad and it burned pretty good!

(My dud candle doing what a candle should do)

(Another shot of the dud)

They came out better than I thought they would.  The colour was nice and even, no bubbles, a nice smooth finish and the scent was good, not too strong or weak. But after all the calamity with the wicks (yes it really did bother me that much) I figured there had to be a better way, so I took to the internet, and guess what, there is a better way, man I wish I would have done that in the first place. 

Something Turquoise  blog, which I found through Kollabora (found that one from Pinterest!) had a really nicely laid out, super easy to follow, non-terrifying instructions on how to make candles in mason jars (she also has more posts on making votive candles and all other sorts of wedding DIY, really awesome website). Obviously I wouldn't be able to use the wick sticker (ok that wasn't obvious to me at first, until I realized that I needed to remove the candle from the mold), but I could use the wick holder to keep my wicks in place and upright. I did not have the wick holder that was used on the website, I did however have chopsticks, and lots of them (mmm Sushi). So now to round two of making candles, the stress free way.

(Ta-dah, my little setup that keeps my wicks right where I want them)

(Carefully poured wax, and the wicks didn't move!!)

I put the chopsticks up on the bowl to keep them out of the wax, and because they were still together they held onto the wicks nice and tight! I was so happy when I figured this out, it made my candle making life so much easier.

(And there they are all pretty and what not)

Again I let them set for two hours, popped them in the freezer for 20 minutes and out they came. I am so proud of my little candles, and I am super excited to make more! What's next for me? Well I have so many empty wine bottles laying around, I figured why not make those into candles. I have a fancy bottle cutter, so all I have to do now is, get more supplies and get my candle making on!

Happy Crafting!