DIY Christmas Gifts 2015: Candles!

The past couple of years, I have decided to make DIY Christmas gifts with more thought and sentiment rather than spending ridiculous amounts of money on my loved ones. This year, I made candles. It took me about 3 hours from beginning to end to make 50 small candles. Here is the step by step process!

Materials you'll need:
- Wax (you can use beeswax or soy wax-- I ordered mine on Voyageur)
- Candlewicks (mine were 6 inch candle wicks I found on Amazon)
- Hot Glue Gun
- Fragrance Oil
- Jars/ containers for your candles
- Tape
- Labels
- Funnel (or a piece of paper/plastic to roll up into one)


SET UP: 
I would recommend placing down newspaper and having lots of paper towel ready to wipe up messes as wax does dry solid and is not easily removed. With the newspaper under everything, you can just roll it up after and you're done cleaning up!

STEP 1: Prepare Candle Wicks & Containers 
Most candle wicks that you come across will look something like the picture below. Make sure you have these ready. I used tin containers I found online at Uline. They were awesome! It shipped within 2 days in the GTA.

STEP 2: Glue gun candlewicks to the bottom of your containers. 

Your candlewicks should be in the centre of your container, regardless of the shape it's in.  

STEP 3: Put wax into glass container and melt in a pot or microwave. 

When you buy wax, it usually comes in shreds like this. It makes it a lot easier to melt. You can choose to put it in the microwave or put the wax into a glass container and put it into a pot of boiling water which also helps it melt. If you are using the microwave, make sure you put the wax in with increments of 1-2 minutes, depending on how strong your microwave is. 

TIP: Be sure to mix it every minute so that it does not get clumpy. 

This is what it looks like when you put the wax into a pot of boiling water. It helps if you mix it every couple of minutes.

STEP 4: Pour in fragrance oil.

I chose lavender because I'm obsessed with lavender and it's just such a relaxing scent. I would say add in about 2-4 teaspoons depending on the saturation of your fragrance oil. Personally, I just eyeballed it and poured as much as I saw fit and stirred it up to make sure it was blended into the wax. 

*Optional step: if you want your candles to be coloured, here is where you would mix in your candle colouring or crayon colours (they do the same thing believe it or not!) 

STEP 5: Pour wax into containers using funnel.  

I just used a makeshift funnel by rolling up a piece of plastic I found lying around, but paper or cardstock would work as well! This helps with the precision of your pour and not to get everywhere. 

STEP 6: Tape candlewicks upright. 
By this point, you will see that the candlewicks are too long for your containers. You can use tape or even chopsticks to keep them upright until they start turning white. That's when you know your candles have set properly.

STEP 7: Cut off extra wick.  

When your candles are fully white and opaque, you can go ahead and cut off the excess of your candlewick. You should leave around 2cm for the candle to be lit. That should also be the part where the wick has soaked in some of the candle wax to make it easier to light up. 

STEP 8: Decorate and Personalize! 
It's time to put your creativity to work! You can go ahead and make tags or decorate the containers however you want. This is how I chose to decorate mine.

Please let me know if you decide to do this for someone or if it inspired you! 

Tag me on instagram @crystallelle 

See you soon :)