Making All Natural Candles at Home Using Essential Oils

This is a guest post written by: Mary Kremer

For Valentine’s Day, I wanted to do something special for my girl friends. I’ve never been big into giving out cards, or roses, or anything for that matter when it comes to Valentine’s Day. I wanted to stick with something simple and pretty. If you’re hopelessly un-crafty, but you want to do something nice for the people you love this year, this candle making tutorial is just for you. Especially if your significant other is into natural health and/or likes pretty, good-smelling gifts. I made these candles for Valentine’s Day, but they can really work for every occasion.

What you’ll need

Believe me when I say, this project is about the easiest thing in the world. All you’ll need to start are:

• some soy wax flakes
  
• a glass container of your choice
  
• a package of wicks
  
• some essential oils

Everything but the essential oils can be found at your local craft store. (A side note on the essential oils, I didn’t really know where to start, but I found some great information on the RainShadow Labs website. They had a ton of choices and it was way, way, way less expensive than some of the other alternatives.)

Step 1: Microwave!

To start, place your soy wax flakes in a microwave-friendly bowl. I found a pound of flakes at the craft store, and it made four small candles and one medium-sized candle. We actually had to grab more containers to fill because we underestimated how much wax there would be, so be prepared. It goes a long way. A pound at the store cost about $8.

The instructions that came with our wax told us to nuke it in the microwave for thirty seconds, then check, and so on until it melted. It took about four minutes to melt the wax completely, and once we did, it looked like oil. I added some candle coloring that I found while gathering supplies, but that part’s not really necessary. If you do decide to color your candle, you can find liquid dyes, or wax blocks that you melt in with the soy wax (the only downsides to those is ours seemed to take a while to melt in, and the coloring suggestions on the box were way off).

Step 2: Add Your Scent (but not too much…)

Once your wax has melted, simply add 8-10 drops of whatever scent you’d prefer (remember, this is 8-10 drops per pound of wax. If you decide to do several scents and your divide up the wax, add fewer drops). I chose lavender to work with, because I thought it was a nice, soothing smell for a candle. Some other great ones might be cinnamon, eucalyptus, or lemon, if you want a fresh scent. Whatever scent you choose, don’t overdo it. You’ll end up smelling like lavender for days and then you might not even want to light the candle ever. Trust me.

Step 3: Pour and Cool

When you’ve added the scent, have someone hold the wick in the middle of the glass container you’ve chosen, and pour in the wax until there’s about half an inch of wick showing. The person holding the wick will have to hold it for a minute or two, until it can hold itself up. Then you simply wait for the wax to harden. For smaller containers, I’d say this part takes about 30-45 minutes. Though my husband did have success putting a few candles in the fridge to cool. Just don’t leave them there for longer than 15-20 minutes, or the wax will crack. This doesn’t really do anything to the candle except make it a little less pretty.

All in all, the entire project (with the help of my husband) took me less than an hour and cost me less than $20. Plus, I ended up with enough candles for my mom, my mother-in-law, two of my sisters, and me to take home for a happy Valentine’s Day! Now I just have to decide if I ever want to smell lavender again...