Homemade natural candles
Ayurveda practices aromatherapy on lots of levels - to calm and soothe the doshas, cleanse the body and the home, as a form of treatment and also simply as a dedication to the fire element. Candles are a very effective way of introducing scent into your home. However, many commercial candles are made from paraffin wax and contain synthetic scents which are not great for the environment or your health. Candles can be very expensive to buy, so I would like to share with you some tips on homemade natural candles.
Candle making is a simplistic practice using natural waxes and pure essential oils. Old candle jars or even plain glass jars make the perfect containers for wax... Recycling and reusing is the aim of the game.
After pouring wax into jars, you can hold the wick straight with skewers.
What you will need:
Materials
A collection of glass candle containers (if you don't have any at home, have a rummage through some of your local Op Shops)
A selection of your favourite essential oils (we will follow up with further information on the health properties and benefits of essential oils)
Natural soy candle wax
Metal wick tabs
Candle wick
Utensils
Large metal cooking pot, digital scales, metal pouring pot, wick holders (skewers work as well, but can be a bit fiddly to keep the wick in place), scissors, glue.
Directions:
Cover your working bench area with newspaper.
Place your clean, dry containers on the newspaper. Cut a length of wick for each container, slightly longer than it's height. Thread the wick through the tab, pinch the neck of the tab to hold the wick in place. Make sure that there is no excess wick underneath, so that the tab can sit flat in the glass container. Put a dob of glue in the centre of the bottom of the jar and gently press the wick tab into place. Keep the top of the wick straight and centered, you can use skewers or wick holders
Half fill your cooking pot with water and place it onto the stove.
Weigh the wax to the amount required for your jar(s). We made up several batches, as we wanted to experiment with different combinations of oils....and we had plenty of jars to fill!
Put the weighed candle wax into the metal pour pot and place the pour pot inside the cooking pot. Gently heat up the water on a low-medium heat, be careful not to get any water in the wax container. Once the wax has melted remove from the heat.
Add your essential oils. You will need to experiment a little with the quantities as some oils are stronger than others. To give you a guide we put in 10 ml to 400 gm wax. Stir well.
Pour slowly into the prepared jars. Hold wick straight and in the centre with two skewers (as shown in picture below) or use designed wick holders.
Allow your soy candle to cool (at least an hour). Trim the wick to approx 5 mm. Let your candle cure for at least 24 hours before burning.
Handy Tips...
If there are some cracks or an uneven surface on your candle you can use a hairdryer to gently warm the top layer to fill in the cracks and level out the surface.
When you burn your candle for the first time, allow it to completely melt the top layer before extinguishing. They say that candles develop a memory and may burn unevenly or it can flood the wick.
Be creative and decorate the outside of the jars (be careful not to put anything flammable near the top of the container
Enjoy the peace and tranquillity that can be created by burning beautiful homemade candles with your favourite scents.
Have fun
Pictures below:
1. The supplies you will need.
2. Clean out old candle jars with boiling water, or put them in the dishwasher (you can reuse old wax from various jars and melt down to create a new candle).
4. Gently melt old or new wax over simmering water.
Make sure you remove any chard parts of the candle wax and the wick before re-melting.