Pillar candles can look great when made with a marbled effect. Follow the instructions below to make one. Be adventurous in your choice of colour and enjoy your project.

1.  Melt the wax, warming it slowly.

2.  Pour wax into a small loaf pan to cool or cool it in your pouring pot.

3.  Give the wax time for form a film.

4.  Using a fork or spoon, scrape the sides of pan and continue mixing the wax until it is the consistency is that of watery oatmeal.

5.  Add 3 drops of liquid dye to the mixture and mix slightly.

6.  Pour mixture into the mould.

7. Take the mould and tap it on a hard surface.

8. With the heat gun, warm the mould slightly and continue tapping the mould with your spoon.

9.  Dry until cool to touch. Be sure you poke relief holes during the drying process.

10.  Enjoy!

 

Container candles are made by pouring wax into a glass or pottery container. The containers are specially made for the job and are designed to take the heat of a burning candle.

 

Remember to use a non-flammable container. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough. Make sure it is not cracked or a porous material which may result in fueling the combustion cycle of a flame, or allowing leakage and therefore burning you as you pour the hot wax.

 

There are a few reasons why they are popular:  they are a bit like a candle and a candle-holder combined, they don’t drip and because they are in a container you can use lower melting point waxes which enhance scent throw.

 

There may well be as many different ways to make container candles as there are candle makers.

 

These step by step instructions are usually fail-safe so give them a go.

 

Step 1. Prepare the molten wax mix and melt – a satisfactory target temperature is 170-175o F. Once it’s fully melted add any additives you want and mix all thoroughly: 

 

Add them in this order –   

a. additives such as vybar or stearic acid    

b. fragrance oil,    

c. dye, this is done last so that you get visual confirmation that everything else has mixed well with the wax.

 

While wax is melting, go through the next few steps. All the time, monitoring the wax temperature carefully.

 

Step 2. Put the pre-tabbed wicks into your container. Disassemble a Bic pen to make a barrel, (white) discard the rest.

 

Straighten the pre-tabbed wicks out but don’t worry about making them perfectly straight. Insert a pre-tabbed wick through the barrel of the pen – 6`` wicks are good for this. If you need a different length you will have to improvise.

 

The reason to use the barrel is that it makes wick handling much easier. While holding the wick inside the barrel, apply hot-glue to the base of the wick tab. Using the barrel to guide the wick, press the tab to the centre of the container. Slide the barrel off the wick.

 

Step 3. Secure the top of the wick. Using a clothes peg secure the top of the wick by clasping it in the clothes peg which has been placed over the top of the container. Looping the wick around a wooden skewer works okay and is good for larger containers. What you are doing here is providing support to help keep the wick centered while the wax cools.

 

Step 4. Pre-heat the container. When the wax is at the required temperature, with all additives thoroughly mixed, pre-heat the container to about 150 degrees F. Pre-heating can be done in the oven on the lowest heat setting. If using a heat gun take care as heat guns may get much hotter than 150 degrees F. While this step is not absolutely necessary it does improve the finished candle. It allows wax to be poured at lower temperatures without trapping bubbles and it improves glass adhesion.

 

Step 5. The initial pour. Once the wax is at the proper temperature (160 degrees F) carefully fill the container to the level you wish.  If it is a lidded container only fill it to a level that will leave enough room for the lid to properly fit back on the finished candle. Save about 20 percent of the wax in the pouring pitcher for step 6.

 

You must NOT return it to the heat source. Allow wax to completely cool before going on. This may well be six or more hours. Slow cooling usually provides the best results for container candles.    Don’t try to speed up the cooling process.

 

Step 6. The re-pour.  When the candle is truly cooled, you will notice that the wax has sunk a bit in the middle.  With your saved wax from step five, melt it back down and bring it to a temperature of 185 degrees F. A higher temperature for the second pour increases the adhesion between layers of wax. Allow the candle to completely cool again.