In this guide, we will answer how to make a scented candle in the easiest way possible.
It should be noted, however, that it takes a lot of time to refine a candle to perfection - we have to choose the right wick for our wax and carefully measure the temperatures at which we carry out the activities.
What do we need to make a candle?
- Wax (in this case, soy wax)
- A pot with a deep bottom
- A bowl to dissolve the wax in a water bath
- A glass in which our candle will be
- Wick
- Scissors for trimming the wick
- Fragrance oil (can also be an essential oil)
How to make a candle step by step
The whole process looks as if we want to melt the chocolate in our bowl.
Put our soy wax into the bowl. First, we need to calculate how much wax we need - it depends on what glass we use and how much fragrance oil we add.
For our guide, we will use a 30cl glass with about 220g of wax and add 10ml of fragrance oil to it.
Prepare a glass for pouring through the wax
The glass must be clean so that the wax can perfectly stick to its walls. Glue our wick in the middle of the glass (we can do it by dipping the metal base of the wick in wax or using glue). Center the wick and fix it so that after it solidifies, it is in the center of the glass.
For centering, we can use wooden sticks with holes or a metal tool intended for centering the wick. If we don't have such things at home, we can simply use two knives to hold the wick evenly in the center of the candle.
The wick must be properly matched to the size of the glass and the wax.
In our case of 30cl glasses and soy wax, we will use the TCR 30/18 wick.
Add fragrance oil
When our wax reaches the temperature of 70-80 degrees Celsius, we take the bowl out of the pot and add our fragrance oil.
We mix the fragrance oil for about 2 minutes so that it merges with the wax.
Pour in the wax mass
Pour our wax mixed with fragrance oil into our glass. The wax should be poured slowly and be careful not to damage the wick, keeping its position in the center of the glass.
We can pour wax at a high temperature of about 60-70 degrees or lower than 45-50, it all depends on how your wax reacts to it. Perfection must be achieved through trial and error.
Cooling down the candles
After pouring wax into the glass, we leave our candle in place for a few hours. Depending on the wax, the top of our candle may collapse (paraffin wax) or have an uneven surface (soy wax). Both problems can be solved by using a heat gun or a dryer by heating the top of the wax so that it melts and smoothing out unevenness, or by flooding the top of the candle with another portion of wax.
Curing time
Our soy candle takes about 2 weeks to get its full strength of fragrance. During this time, it should be put in a cold and dark room.
The longer the soybean candle stands, the better it will convey the fragrance.
If paraffin wax is used, this time is 24 to 48 hours to obtain the full strength of the fragrance.