How to Make Beeswax Candles
- In This Quick Guide:
- The Benefits of Homemade Beeswax Candles
- Candle-Making Steps
Making your own beeswax candles is a simple project that is both fun and practical—and it’s a terrific project for kids (with close adult supervision and guidance, of course). In this guide, I’ll talk about some of the benefits of creating your own candles, list the materials you need in order to do it, and walk you through the basic steps of candle-making.
The Benefits of Homemade Beeswax Candles
Beeswax candles have a lot of advantages over regular candles. They’re completely natural, burn slowly and evenly, and smell great. You can make your candles using either beeswax, conventional candle wax, or a combination of the two. It’s possible to make candles by using a candle mold, but dipped candles require fewer materials and are simpler to make.
Candle-Making Steps
To make dipped candles, you will need the following:
- Wax (beeswax and/or candle wax)
- Wick string (available at craft stores)
- Scissors
- Double boiler with a deep top chamber (A metal coffee can inside a saucepan works well.)
- Equally deep second container, filled with cold water
- Long stick (like a yardstick or broomstick)
- Lots of old newspapers
- Essential oils for fragrance (optional)
Here’s how to make drip candles:
- Cover all the counters, floors, and other work surfaces in the candle-making area with newspapers.
- Fill the bottom chamber of the double boiler with water, and put the wax in the top chamber. Place the double boiler on the stove, and begin warming the wax over medium heat. Add any essential oils you’d like to use.
- Suspend the long stick horizontally. One way to do this is by supporting it between the backs of two chairs.
- Cut the wick strings. Each string should be twice as long as you want your candles to be tall, plus 6 inches. For example, if you want 5-inch candles, cut 16-inch wick strings.
- When the wax has melted completely, place the container of cold water close to the double boiler. Each wick string will become two candles. Hold the string at its midpoint, and dip the two halves into the wax. Take care not to let the strings touch each other. Leave the center 6 inches of the string unwaxed.
- Immediately after dipping in the wax, dip the string into the cold water. Drape the string over the stick, so the two newly forming candles are suspended by the unwaxed string between them. Gently tug at the bottom of each string to encourage it to straighten.
- Repeat the wax and water dipping multiple times. The candles need to dry completely before they’re dipped again in the wax. You can speed the process up by gently drying the candles with a cloth rag while they’re hanging on the stick. (As long as you don’t rub too hard with the rag, you won’t smudge the wax.) After a few rounds, the weight of the wax will straighten the wicks, and you won’t need to tug them straight anymore.
- When the candles have reached their desired size, snip the wick string about ½ inch from the top of each candle. Or, if you’d prefer to use your candles as a rustic decoration before lighting them, hang them on a nail or hook by their adjoining wick string.
With just a little bit of time and patience, you can produce enough beeswax candles to last your family for a long while—or have a bounty of homemade gifts for friends and relatives. Although it may be easier to purchase candles from a store, the process of making them at home is well worth the effort. Plus, every time you light your candles, you’ll remember what went into creating them and the people who made them with you. Happy candlemaking!
by Sundari Elizabeth Kraft, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Urban Homesteading
