A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Your First Candle
This article will teach you how to make candles at home by following these 7 easy steps. There are many types of candles you can make. Depending on what kind of candle you are making you will need a different type of wax. Read more about all candle waxes here. For your first candle you can follow this simple guide which teaches you how to make a basic candle in a tin or a jar. You can skip fragrance and dye if you want.
STEP 1 – Gathering supplies
Gather all of your tools and supplies.
What you will need:
- Thermometer
- Precise scale
- Spatula / spoon (something to stir the wax with)
- Double boiler
- Candle wick
- Candle wax – choose soy, paraffin, coconut or other waxes for containers, in this guide I’m using soy wax
- Candle jar / vessel – you can buy candle jars or tins or you can use mason jars or other vessels you already have at home (thick glass yogurt jar, mason jar etc.), just make sure your vessel is heat resistant and thick, otherwise it might break and cause fire (for example, a bad vessel choice would be a wine glass)
Optional:
- Fragrance oil – if you do decide to use fragrance, make sure it’s fragrance oil specifically formulated for candles (use gloves when working with fragrance oils)
- Dye – same goes for dyes, choose either liquid or solid dye for candles
STEP 2 – Calculating total fill
*All measurements here are in grams.
Calculate how much wax and fragrance oil you need to fill your candle jar.
Place your candle jar on a digital scale, then use the “tare” function to “zero” the weight of the jar. Fill the jar with water up to the level where you want to fill your candle.
Multiply the result by 0.9 to get the amount of wax you need.
Formula:
water weight (without jar) X 0.9 = total wax (and fragrance) needed (total fill amount)
Example:
the water fill in your jar weighs 150 grams
150g X 0.9 = 135 g
135g is the total wax and fragrance oil amount for your jar
STEP 3 – Calculating fragrance oil amount
Calculate how much fragrance oil you need.
Determine percentage of fragrance you want to use. Commonly 6%, 8% or 10% fragrance load is used for soy wax candles.
Paraffin wax – 6 – 12%
Coconut wax – 8 – 12%
Beeswax – 3 – 6% but it is best to leave it unscented as beeswax has a natural subtle honey aroma and it might interfere with fragrance oils
Formula:
total fill amount X fragrance oil percentage (converted into a decimal) = amount of fragrance oil needed
Example 1. you decided to use 8% FO (Fragrance oil):
135 X 0.08 = 10.8 g
Example 2. you decided to use 12% FO:
135 X 0.12 = 16.2 g
STEP 4 – Measuring
If you are using 135 grams to fill your jar, you need 10.8 g of FO (8%) and 124.20 g of wax (135-10.8=124.20). Now that you have your measurements use the double boiler to melt the wax and in the meantime weight your fragrance oil. You can use glass, steel or silicone cup for this.
STEP 5 – Adding fragrance
Always follow the instruction from the manufacturer or your fragrance oil and wax to know at which temperature you need to add your fragrance oil.
This is a general guide:
- Soy wax: Add fragrance at 79-85°C (175-185°F)
- Paraffin: Add at 77-90°C (170-195°F)
- Beeswax: 71-79°C (160-17°F)
- Coconut wax: 54-82°C (130-180°F)
- Gel wax: 71-76°C (160-170°F)
- Rapeseed wax: 55-65°C (130-150°F)
- Palm wax: 82-93°C (180-200°F)
- Sunflower wax: 77-85°C (170-185°F)
Add your fragrance oil and stir well for at least a full minute. Use wide spatula to avoid making bubbles.
STEP 6 – Wicking & Pouring
Based on your your candle’s diameter choose the right wick (when you buy wick they will be sorted based on diameter of a container). Heat the container with a heat gun. Add a wick to your container, make sure the container is dry (no water). Use a wick tab to stick the wick in the middle of your container. Pour soy wax at around 60°C (140°F) or cooler. If your wax gets too cool and hardens, you can always reheat it.
Step 7 – Curing time
Add a wick holder to keep your wick in place (you can do this already while heating the jar if your wick keeps falling to the side). Leave the candle to cool down (around 2-4 hours). After the wax has hardened, trim the wick to about 6 mm or 1/4 inch height. Set the candle aside to cure for the next 1 to 2-weeks for fragrance binding and good scent throw.
Congratulations! You have now made your first candle. Light it after curing time is over. If you plan to eventually start selling your candles, make sure to do extensive testing of your mixture and burn to ensure safety and repeatable quality results.
