Soy Candles – How to Make Homemade Candles

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How to Make Homemade Candles

Learning how to make homemade candles is making its way from an old-fashioned hobby to a modern day craze. I decided to check it out and see if it was worth my time to learn how to make homemade candles.

I decided to use soy candle wax over any other wax because I thought the benefits of using soy were important. What are some advantages of using soy candles?

  • They burn longer
  • The smoke does not contain any carcinogens
  • The wax is biodegradable
  • They are easy to clean up after making or spilling them

Although buying soy wax is more expensive than paraffin wax, they burn longer, so the extra $$ is worth it in the end. Plus paraffin is made out of petroleum & burn off carcinogens. Yuck!

How to Make Homemade Candles

Supplies needed:

  •  2 lb. bag of soy wax (Where to Buy)
  • candle wicks – tall enough for your containers) (Where to Buy)
  • candle containers – I used jars and cans from my recycle bin.
  • hot glue gun
  • double boiler
  • thermometer

Steps:

  1. Heat up your double boiler.
  2. Dump wax chips into double boiler
  3. Melt & heat to 185 degrees.
  4. While the wax is melting, hot glue to wicks to the center of your containers.
  5. Once the wax reaches 185 degrees, remove from heat
  6. Cool until wax reaches 125 degrees
  7. Pour wax into containers.
  8. Let cool overnight.
  9. Trim wicks to 1/4 inch.
  10. Burn & enjoy!

Tips:

  •  Using essential oils, you can adds scents to your candles.
  • You can use candle dye to color your candles (food coloring will not work!)
  •  Give these candles as gifts or light them around your own home.

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Learning how to make homemade candles was so easy! I recommend it to anyone.

Cost for 5 soy candles = <$10. That’s less than $2 per candle. Plus I still have more wax for another candle once I find the right container. Totally worth it!

Another great candle to make that is easy and inexpensive is Olive Oil Candles.

Looking for more DIY projects?

Do any of your make your own candles? How do you make it? Have you ever tired making soy candles?

erinbio

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13 Comments

  1. This looks so easy! Can you tell me how much your soy was at Hobby Lobby? I am trying to see if it is a better price than Amazon.
    Thanks!

  2. yay! finally a way to have non-toxic candles, I love this:
    *The smoke does not contain any carcinogens

    I’m going to check out the olive oil candle idea and send this to a friend.

  3. I make tallow candles-cost is negligible as most grocery stores will give you hard beef fat (tallow) free. Do you know the process for turning soy beans/plants into wax? I can’t find any formulas, & I’d love to try it. there are plenty of farms locally that raise soybeans.

  4. I don’t know if it has carcinogens or not, but we make emergency candles out of a coffee can and cheap shortening. I save the cotton strings from our dry dogfood to braid for wicks, so I am only out for the price of the shortening.

  5. This is amazing. Nowadays no one makes candles everyone prefer to buy it from shops. It seems that the old days have been back. Thanks for sharing this.