How to create home made candles?

To start with, you will need a few basic candlemaking supplies (a measuring Pyrex jar, a jam thermometer, wicks and some kind of wooden spoon to mix it all), a clean area to work in, a source of heat (the microwave will do!) and containers or candle moulds to pour the wax in. If you want to make coloured candles you will need also wax dye appropriate for your type of wax, and oil scents that can be used for candlemaking (make sure to check that before buying them). Aromatherapy oils are great for this, but they can be a bit pricey for your first attempts. In this example we're going to use soy wax (which can be melted easily on a microwave) to make container candles. Those are candles that burn inside a recipient, for example a glass. Select one that is wide enough for the wick you want to use. Also, before you start is extremely recommendable that you cover your working area all with newspapers, since it will make cleaning much much easier.

A word of advice, even if it's quite a safe hobby you're going to be dealing with hot liquids that might burn your skin. So be always careful not to overheat your wax above it's ignition point (this is where a jam thermometer comes in handy) and if your wax starts to smoke leave it to cold since it's too hot. If you get wax on your skin pour cold (not iced, just cold) water on it so you don't get burnt. Also, never handle the scents with your bare hands, since some of them like cinnamon are very aggressive to skin. If it touches your skin, wash it immediately. And never leave your melting wax unattended, we're after all talking about oily substances that can overheat and catch fire. Think of it as cooking.

First of all, select and weight the wax. In this case I am using soy container wax. An easy way to estimate how much wax are you going to need is to fill your container with water (Dry well afterwards! Wax and water don't mix well) and measure enough soy flakes to be 1.25 the volume of water. It's a bit of trial and error, since it depends on the density of the wax you're using, but you can always just let