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Scented candles are the perfect way to bring elegance, fragrance and warmth to your home. But buying candles can be expensive. Who hasn’t knocked over a fantastic-smelling candle in a cute shop, only to quickly put it back once they’ve seen the price? !
Also, most of us want to be careful about the chemicals we bring into our homes.
Learn how to make scented candles to save money and control exactly what you put in them. Candle makers don’t have to list their ingredients, so you never know what’s in it.
Keep reading to discover the magic of scented candle making. It’s a lot easier than you think!
Contents
Choose your perfume
Choosing a perfume is not just about choosing the one that makes your nose happy.
Depending on your goals, you can use scents to lift your spirits or lull you to sleep. That’s why you need to think about where you want to place the candles in your home. You wouldn’t want to use an energizing scent for your bedroom candle.
Don’t worry; you don’t have to have a unique candle for each room, but you can! Once you master candle making, you can make one for every season, every holiday, and every space.
First, let’s explore the most common scents:
Lavender
Lavender flowers are known for their soothing benefits, so you’ll often find this scent in pillow sprays or teas. Making a candle with lavender is a great way to create a cozy and relaxing atmosphere.
Lavender probably native to southern Europe and northern and eastern Africa. Historically, lavender was used as an antidepressant and sedative. The genus has over 30 species and hundreds of unique hybrids and cultivars.
Lighting a lavender candle is a great way to utilize the relaxing effects of this herb.
Cinnamon
Most people associate cinnamon with festive cookies or homemade baked goods, which makes cinnamon an ideal scent for kitchen candles.
Placing cinnamon candles in your kitchen creates a pleasant atmosphere for cooking and preparing delicious meals. Or it can invoke pleasant autumn evenings.
Research shows that cinnamon may boost memory function and help you focus on tasks. Who knows if candle scent works as well, but it can’t hurt, can it?
Cinnamon is also good for preventing mosquitoes from entering your home. Studies show that cinnamon repels adults and the oil can kill eggs.
Pepper mint
Peppermint is used to calm nerves and relieve depression. Not only is it useful for relieving stress, peppermint can also help with digestive issues and reduce inflammation.
Smelling peppermint reduces appetite and helps people deal with anxiety. Lighting these candles also helps people with nausea, and the scent has been found helpful for women with menstrual cramps.
Citrus
Citrus is potent even in small amounts. All you need is a few drops of lemon or orange, and you’ll have a room filled with a fruity scent.
Lime is a purifying scent that can reduce negative emotions and bring clarity. Although consuming lime is part of a healthy diet, lighting lime-scented candles could encourage positive thoughts and feelings.
Putting lime candles in a bedroom or living room creates a happy and vibrant atmosphere for spending time with loved ones or relaxing after a day of gardening.
How to make scented candles at home
Anyone can make scented candles with the right ingredients. You will need the following materials to start making scented candles:
- soy wax
- highlights
- Tincture (if desired)
- Essential oil or perfume
- Candle holders or candle holders
- Mold model (optional)
- Water bath
- Thermometer
- Glue gun (optional)
Fragrance oils are an affordable choice for adding a sweet scent to your candles, and they’re easy to find. This is why most people choose scented oils when making candles. These oils, however, are synthetically made.
People who want to avoid synthetic fragrances or chemicals in their home should stick to essential oils, which are naturally derived.
The good thing about scent oils is that there are so many options, and buying them in bulk is affordable and easy. If you want to make a bouquet of candles, this is a great way to cut down on material costs.
Essential oils are extracted from plants, seeds, leaves and other plant parts. Depending on the type of oil, these products can be expensive.
High-quality oils are a good option if you have experience making candles and want to upgrade your ingredients. Small amounts of essential oil will limit waste and give you a delicious scent.
For your first few attempts, you might want to stick with scented oils.
Once you’ve chosen your oils, it’s time to get started.
1. Prepare the containers
The first step is to install your candle jars or containers. Mason jars and drinking glasses are easy solutions for making scented candles, as they are great ways to reuse old containers. Look in thrift stores to find these jars at low prices.
If you have old candle jars, recycle them by pouring boiling water into the container and filling it halfway. Let the wax dissolve and float to the top. Pour the water and the wax and wipe them.
2. Measure the wax
To determine how much wax you will need to melt for your scented candles, you will need to do a bit of math. One pound of wax is approximately 20 ounces of candle volume. To calculate your needs, add up the number of candles you make and divide by 20.
Suppose you want to make ten eight-ounce candles. Ten multiplied by eight equals 80. Divide 80 by 20, and you have four. This means you need four pounds of wax to make your ten candles.
Always set the scale to zero, including all containers, before placing the wax in the container in order to get an accurate measurement.
3. Prepare the highlights
Before melting the wax, prepare the wicks in their holders.
Trim the wick about three inches longer than the pot. Center the wick in the jar and attach the base. You can buy stickers or use hot glue to attach the base or tab. You must secure the wick or tab, otherwise it will move when you pour the wax and the candle will not burn well.
Once it’s attached to the base, find a pencil or something and lay it on top of the jar. Wrap the extra length of the wick around the pencil to hold it in place when pouring the wax. Otherwise, the wax will cover the wick and it will be buried.
You can also purchase bit centering tools.
Large containers need more than one wick. Any jar less than three inches in diameter only needs one wick. Four-inch pots need two, and a five-inch pot needs three. A six-inch jar needs four, etc.
4. Melt the wax
Once you have the right amount of wax, start melting it. Half fill the bottom of a double boiler with water and bring to a boil.
Pour the amount of wax you need into the main pot. You may need to do this in batches. Think of this process as melting chocolate.
As the wax softens, stir it gently with a chopstick or something similar to ensure a smooth melting process. Make sure the wax doesn’t get too hot and start bubbling. It should melt slowly and smoothly.
5. Add fragrance
Pour your essential oil or perfume into the wax. Be careful not to pour too much into the wax or you’ll get an overpowering smell. The general rule is that between 6 and 10% of the candle should be scented and the rest should be wax.
You can find apps that will actually calculate all the numbers for you if you need to.
For something different, mix two or more scents together. Experienced candle makers find their own unique scents by combining their favorite scents.
6. Pour wax into the candle holder
The last step in making scented candles is to pour the mixture into the holder. As a general rule, the wax should be 120-140°F when pouring.
Be careful not to coat the end of the wick with the wax as you pour, and wait until the wax is dry to cut off the excess.
Depending on the wax and temperature, it can take up to 24 hours for the mixture to solidify, unless it’s a hot summer day. Then it may take even longer.
Advice
Here are some expert tips to keep in mind during the process:
- Clean up the wax as soon as possible if there are any spills
- Keep hot wax away from children or pets
- Never leave your candle unattended while it is burning
- Check out our guide for fun DIY ways to make your candles stand out
Have fun making your own scented candles and explore these soothing scents for different moods. But don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and mix up distinct scents.
You could do something wonderful!
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