A How-To Guide To Homemade Candles

Scented candles add welcome ambiance to any home. Lavender scents relax us, vanilla fills the room with the scent of home baking, and a spiced cranberry fragrance can bring about memories of Christmas.

Sometimes the perfect scents can be hard to find. Lavender might be too faint, vanilla might be too sickly sweet, and spiced cranberry might seem too artificial. We've got a creative, money-saving solution: make your own! Using a mason jar and materials found at your local craft store, you can create a personalized candle in the comfort of your own kitchen. Here's how.

What you'll need
One pound of soy wax (flake form is best)
One mason jar
Candle wick
Wax dye (in liquid or colour chip form)
One ounce of fragrant or essential oils
Hot glue

Step 1
Add a dab of hot glue to the bottom of the candle wick. Using a pencil or butter knife, glue the bottom of the wick to the centre of the bottom of the mason jar. Lay the pencil or butter knife across the top of the jar and let the top of the wick rest against it while the glue dries.

Step 2
Melt the soy wax in a pan over medium heat. Once the wax has completely melted, remove the pan from the burner.

Step 3
Add your wax dye to the pan. Stir the dye in until it has melted and has turned the wax a consistent colour.

Step 4
Let the wax cool slightly but do not let it harden. Add your desired scent to the pan, stirring to ensure the oil is mixed in well. You can mix and match various scents to achieve your desired fragrance but watch the quantities; one ounce total is recommended for properly scenting the candle.

Step 5
Lay an old towel or newspapers down on a countertop and set the open mason jar on top. Ensuring that the wick is still glued to the bottom, carefully pour the melted wax into the jar. Distribute the wax evenly in the jar until the jar is close to full. Leave approximately five centimetres of space between the wax and the top of the jar.

Step 6
Let the candle cool and solidify for 24 hours. Trim the wick back to 1.5 centimetres.

A homemade scented candle also makes a perfect Christmas or hostess gift. Create a label for the candle and fasten it to the top of the mason jar with ribbon. Wrap the candle in cellophane and curled ribbons.

Jaclyn Tersigni
		About the author:
		Jaclyn is a 20-something journalism student at Ryerson University. She traded suburbia for the big city two years ago and enjoys navigating life as a single woman in Toronto. She’s a burgeoning foodie, a borderline music snob, a news junkie, and constant explorer of the world.
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