Candle craft is an art that gives expression to a person’s creativity. The market for aesthetically decorated candles for various occasions and festivals is ever growing and this makes candle craft a lucrative vocation. With a little skill and some experimentation you can easily adopt this art either as your hobby or as your business activity.
Basic supplies required for making candles
- Wax: There are a variety of waxes available in the market like paraffin wax, bee’s wax, soy wax and gel wax. Paraffin wax is the most commonly used and easily available wax.
- Dyes: You can use special candle dyes available in powder form or use oil colors, wax crayons, poster colors etc to color your candles.
- Moulds: Again you can choose from a variety rigid or flexible moulds available in the market or you can use some household items as moulds like cups, cookie moulds, milk cartons, egg shells, cans, glasses etc.
- Double Boiler
- Braided Cotton Wicks
- Oil
Procedure for making a simple candle
Step 1: Preparing the Mould
Brush the candle mould lightly with oil. Cut the wick 2 inches longer than the height you want the candle to be. Now thread the wick through the hole at the bottom of the mould and plug the outside of the hole with some sticky tape. Keep the wick suspended vertically in the centre of the mould by tying it to a pencil or a toothpick placed at the top of the mould.
Step 2: Melting the Wax
Melt the wax in a double-boiler. For this place a pan half-filled with water over low-medium heat. Keep a heat-proof bowl over the water and place blocks of wax in that bowl. When the wax melts add sufficient amount of color i.e. crayon or dye to it. If you are using paraffin wax add a little stearin or stearic acid to it. This will slowdown the burning rate and helps harden the candle.
Step 3: Making the Candle
Pour the molten wax gently into the mould and allow it to cool for about 6 hours. Then refrigerate the mould for a few hours and remove the candle from it. If you are using a flexible mould, peel-off the mould gently.
You can create a variety of colorful candles with this method and decorate it with paints, glitter, shells and the like.
Isn’t candle craft really simple and fun?
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