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Handmade Candles
There's a special magic in things we create ourselves, with our own two hands, and handmade candles are not an exception. Candlemaking is an interesting hobby and the payoffs can be great - imagine the faces of your loved ones when you give them a beautiful candle you made yourself as a Cristmas gift! Talk about caring.
Pick a Candle Type
As candles can come in many different shapes, colors and scents, it's up to you to choose the look & feel of your own candle. How about a sexy red candle for a romantic evening ?! Or maybe a graceful white one, to give to your parents ?!Choose your candle in accordance with it's purpose, think about what the person you're going to give it to would like, or just pick your favourite scent and color if you plan to keep it for yourself.
If you still haven't got your creativity flowing, don't worry, you'll have plenty of ideas once you learn about different candle types.
Of Candle Wax and Melting Pots
Making candles is quite simple, and you're going to enjoy it if you liked playing with mud or building sand castles as a child ;)Although the process itself differs depending on the type of candle you want to make, it always revolves around wax melting and wax pouring and most of the tools and ingredients you'll use are the same.
First you're going to need some candle wax, and you can choose among a few different types. Paraffin candle wax is the most popular of the bunch, but you can also use pure bee wax, bayberry candle wax or some of the other types of wax.
In order to avoid a fire hazard and messy wax explosions, you should use a double boiler for all your candle making adventures - double boiler is, in essence, a pot placed in another pot with boiling water, and is used so that the temperature of the wax never exceeds 212 F, the temperature of boiling water.
Of course, you should apply the same kind of precaution as you would to any activity which includes fire - be careful not to burn your hand, watch out for your children and your draperies and have a fire extinguisher handy (baking soda will do as well). Also be sure not to pour water on boiling wax if you don't want your eyebrows to go out in flames.
Now that we've covered the basics of candlemaking craft, you're ready to delve deeper into the fine details of the art! Learn more about candle making & types of candles and experiment a little and you're going to have some nice handmade surprises by the time of the next holiday.