Gift idea for the holidays: DIY scented candles
Make your loved ones something personal & meaningful with these DIY festive container candles! The winter edition of our Candle Making Create Kit has all the materials you need to create these beauties.
However, do feel free to use whatever sort of container you can think of and play around yourself. As long as you have wax, wicks & gold leaf, success is guaranteed.
And for the extra touch we can highly recommend adding scent. Get your supply and guidance with our Scent Discovery Kit.
Some useful tools to lay-out before you start:
Large pan filled 1/2 with boiling water
1-2 jugs or cleaned cans
Food thermometer
Tweezers
Old newspaper to line your work surface
Essential oils
A container/glass jar for your candle
How to:
Make an au Bain Marie and fill your clean can with wax pastilles. To accurately measure the amount of wax, fill twice the container you want to use for your candle with pastilles. Put the au Bain Marie pan with can over medium heat and wait until the wax melts. Make sure the water doesn’t start boiling causing water to plop into your can! As soon as you see a lump forming, you can turn the heat low and wait for all the wax to become completely fluid.
Prepare your container/jar by placing the wick in the middle, fixate with a dot of hot glue or a glue sticker. Then pour the wax into your container (when not using any scent).
Note: when adding scent, add around 10% essential oils to make sure the scent becomes noticeable. But beware not to add more than 12%, or else the candle quality will be affected. Adding the oils is best at a temperature of around 60 degrees Celsius max. So, give your food thermometer a quick dip to check first! Pour the scented wax over to a second clean jar a couple of times to make sure the scent is well blended.
After pouring, wait for the candle to have solidified slightly and then, with the use of your fingers crumble the gold leaf over the top layer of the wax. Or grab some tweezers to decorate more precisely.
Let the wax cool completely. Best to place it in a warm corner, to avoid the wax to solidify too fast (this will give an uneven surface).
Use a paint marker to write on the glass. Wrap nicely, for example Japanese furoshiki style: with some scrap fabric, (recycled) ribbon and a Christmas tree twig.
Enjoy giving!
