How To Make Candles

Learning how to make candles isn't terribly hard, but it can be quite addictive.  It's not exactly an inexpensive hobby; once you are hooked, you want more frangrances, more kinds of wax, more molds, more...well, you get the idea.

Still, making candles can be a very rewarding hobby, or even a business for the right person.  Homemade candles are also popular gifts, because you can mix and blend the fragrances to perfection.

Before your begin, you need to decide -- wax or gel candles?  It's a different process for each, but they are both rewarding to make.

Basic Candle-Making

At the very minimum, you need the following for making most kinds of wax candles:

• Wax.  Which kind you choose has an outcome on the finished work.  Choose a natural wax for less sooting in the completed product.  (Here's more information on candle making wax.)
• Wicks.   A wick is what allows the candle to burn.  They can be made from several different materials; cotton is one of the nicer candle wicks.
• Wax melter.  You can melt your wax in various ways, but choosing the right wax melter can mean an easier clean-up for you. Options range from a type of double-boiler to a specialized melter.
• Thermometer -- the candy-making kind that measures to at least 300 degrees.

And depending on the kind of candle you plan to make you may need:

• Containers for container candles.
• Molds.  You might be one of the few who is content with just one mold.  Most of us aren't that strong and like a variety of shapes and sizes.
• Mold release -- so you can get the candles out of the molds when they're done!

For a more complete list of equipment and supplies see the candle making material page.

Information on How to Make Candles

If you live in a large urban area, you may be lucky and one of the local craft stores may hold classes on how to make candles from time to time.

If there aren't any local classes available, you'll have to learn candlemaking through reading.   Here are a few good books on how to make candles.

One book to look for is by Betty Oppenheimer. The book isn't fancy by any means, but it has lots of good information -- I highly recommend it.

You might want to also check out the website Candle Help for a great online resource.  

If you're hankering for a book to read today and you can't find one at your local bookstore, may I suggest Easy Way to Make Soy Candles by Jameel D. Nolan. With this you also have the option of getting some starter supplies at a discount.

You can also check out the how to make sand candles page, if you'd like to try that route.

Candle-Making Kits

If you'd rather get all your supplies in kit form, there are some excellent ones available. Discount Candle has two that look interesting.

• How to Make Candles Beginner's Kit   This has everything you need to make up to 10 good-sized pillar candles.  You get wax, wicks, molds, fragrances and additives.  Oh, there's also a book that comes along with the package.
• Super-Fantastic Candle Making Kit.  Everything in the beginner's kit and more! Make pillars, votives, novelty and even rolled beeswax candles.  Naturally, a book is also included.

You can also find things like microwavable soy wax, for container candles (although I haven't seen a kit with wicks, etc. for this).  I don't recommend gel candles, at least not in the beginning -- they can be unstable.

Supplies

Your local craft store will likely have plenty of supplies, although perhaps not a large variety.  If you'd like to really go to town with your candle making supplies, do check out the Discount Candle supplies page.  You can pretty much find anything you need here - and then some!

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Candle Making: Hobby or Business?

There are plenty of people who enjoy making candles. But when does a hobby become a business?

The goal of a business is to make a profit.

The goal of a hobby is many times to just make enough money to buy more supplies!

If you want to learn more about turning your hobby to a business, check out the book Candlemaking for Fun & Profit by Michelle Espino.

While there are better books on how to make candles, I haven't seen any better on how to turn your candle hobby into a profitable business.