Candle Making Supplies

Once you have decided that you want to make some candles, you need to collect togeher your candle making supplies. These are basic items that you probably already have around the house, with the possible exception of paraffin wax, but you may just have this as an emergency item. Of course, if you are making gel candles, then you need the gel instead of paraffin wax. Supplies of this can be obtained from the many craft stores.

Making Candles From Wax Crayons

Supplies:

First of all a few words about candle making supplies.
The wax carton can be a milk carton, or orange juice carton. You do not have to have a double boiler. Instead you can use a coffee tin placed inside a saucepan with water half way up the sides. Now if you are into your own canning, and you have some canning rings around, put those in the saucepan first, so the coffee can can sit on top. It provides a little cushioning, that's all.

Cut the carton, so that it is the height that you would like your candle to be, about 6 inches.

If you want the candle to burn slower, you might want to braid 3 pieces of string together to the correct length.

Place the broken pieces of paraffin wax into the boiler or coffee tin, and heat the water. Let the paraffin wax melt fully before adding the crayons broken into small pieces. It is easier to check if the wax is fully melted if you add the crayons after this step. It will probably take 10 - 15 minutes to melt the paraffin wax. Let the crayons melt completely.

Next, using kitchen tongs, or you could attach the wick to the midpoint of the side of a  pencil, dip the wick into the wax and coat thoroughly so that the wick will burn more evenly. Now hold the string so it is in the middle of the carton, and fill the carton with the ice cubes. Then carefully pour the melted wax over the ice cubes.

In about 30 minutes the  candle should be set. Leave for another hour or so to make sure the ice cubes are all melted. Carefully pour off the water, and peel away the carton. Place your new candle on a tray or in a dish to catch any more of the melting ice cubes, and let the candle dry for a day or two.

If you made your candle with a single piece of string, you will find that the candle will only burn for an hour or so, but that you have a good portion of the wax left that you can use for your next candle project.

To make a solid candle, you can just pour the melted wax into glass jars, or tins, or even milk cartons, after placing the wick in the center, but do not use ice cubes to make these solid candles. Once the candles have set, you can trim the wick close to the candle.

If you want to make scented candles, then before you put the broken pieces of wax in the double boiler, add the scent, then the paraffin wax, as this will enable you to mix the scent in more evenly than by adding it later. You could use, for example 3 or 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract, provided you love the smell of vanilla.

And there you have it, an easy way to use up all those bits of wax crayons, and produce some good useful candles too, and using the candle making supplies mentioned, it won't cost much at all!

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