If you love scented candles, you can make them yourself. Thanks to this, you will gain a unique home decoration, at a low cost. Such a candle is also a great gift idea for a friend, mother or sister. How to make a candle?
How to make candles
To make scented candles you will need wicks made of string and the right amount of stearin melted from old candles (ready stearin is sold only in 80-kilogram packs). In a saucepan set on low heat, we dissolve the pieces of candles, remembering not to mix different colors, because the molten mass will have a dull shade. So if we want to get a red color, we should choose candles of this color. No dyes are added to the stearin, as it does not combine with any paints. Once we get the liquid substance, it remains to choose the type and shape of molds that we will fill with it.
Candle with a citrus scent
To make a citrus-scented candle, you’ll need orange and lemon peels, orange and yellow stearin, as well as a jar and wicks for candles.
Version: Pour molten stearin in orange and yellow into the jar. Put fruit peel (or fruit slices) into the mass, and when the stearin begins to solidify, sink the wick in it. Wait about 20-30 minutes until the whole solidifies. Finished!
Freestanding candle
Remember that a free-standing candle is cast upside down. In practice, this means that the bottom of the mold will be the top of our candle. The mold must have a hole at the bottom, through which we will pull the wick, if there is no hole – we must make it ourselves. The dragged wick should be about 3 cm long (it is better to cut the excess than to look for the wick in the candle). In order for the wick not to be “sucked” into the mold during pouring or during solidification, it is advisable to attach it to the mold with a small amount of plasticine or an ordinary plaster. This will also seal the mold and prevent liquid paraffin from spilling out.
Because each wick has two ends, we must go to the rest of the wick. For now, the wick is attached on one side. The rest of the wick is slightly stretched and set so that it passes vertically through the middle of the mold. A good way is to tie the wick with a stick, e.g. for skewers or a pencil, which will mark the center and at the same time keep the wick in one place.
How to make it?
Prepare two pots. Pour paraffin into the first one (it will no longer be suitable for cooking). Place the pot with paraffin in the second pot with water. In this way we melt paraffin.
During melting, we can add candle colors, decorations and fragrances to make the candles smell and look beautiful. After completely dissolving the paraffin or wax and dye, we mix everything thoroughly. Pour the melted paraffin slowly and carefully into the prepared form. Remember that during cooling, the paraffin reduces its volume slightly, so you will probably need to add a small amount to fill the defect in the mold. Now it remains to wait. Depending on the size of the mold, the paraffin can cool down from several minutes to several hours.
