Making Candles!

As a maker of soap and lotion, I knew I wanted to make candles when I saw pins on Pinterest.  This was my first attempt.

I bought some soy flakes off ebay.  Big mistake.  The soy was good, Golden brands 464, but the transaction...not so good.  Anyway...

First I hot glued the wicks (make sure you get the right size for the opening of your jar) into the bottom of my jars.

Then, I melted the wax in an old rice cooker.  It worked great!  BUT, you must watch it and make sure you remove it from the heat source as soon as it gets to about 180 degrees. Use a thermometer.  Can't stress that enough!

Then, I make my mistake.

I used a water based colorant to color the wax, FIGURING that if it worked with soap and lotion (oil based) it should work with candles.  Nope.  Left little clumps of colorant that I had to strain with cheese cloth.  No pictures of this little mistake as it took two hands to fix my mess.  You'll see my boo boo, as in flakes in my candle, in a picture to come.

I found a great place for supplies and oil based colorant, Candles and Supplies

Before I poured the hot wax, about 150 degrees into my jars, I added my scent. I used Marshmallow something, and it smelled WONDERFUL!

I didn't have popsicle sticks to keep the wicks in place, but as it turns out, pipe cleaners work better!  MUCH better!  You can totally control the placement of the wick.



I've made some really cute Christmas ones since this, but donated them to our church's Fall Festival and, of course, didn't take pictures!

Time to make a new batch for Christmas gifts for teachers!  Will post pictures then!