DIY CANDLES
/
I love the Anthropologie Volcano candles for many reasons (hello, most fantastic scent combined with a mercury glass vessel and a 75 hr burn time), so when one of my beloved candles had almost burned out, I decided I'd save the container and repurpose it. I stumbled across the tutorial for candle making in Darling Magazine (issue 9, pg. 34), and decided to try making a new candle into the mercury glass vase. Here is what you need:
candle wicks (found at craft stores)
soy wax (I used old melted Ikea candles, which I would not recommend)
double broiler system
glass vessel
hot glue gun
Step 1: melt the wax reside out of your vessel by placing it in a 180 degree oven. (You can see I melted an old ikea candle by placing it in my vase, and I don't recommend this, next time I'd probably buy the wax chips and use 100% of the same kind of wax.)
Step 2: melt your wax in a double broiler system. Next time I would have used something with an easier pouring spout, like a pyrex liquid measuring cup. Allow wax to cool to 140 degrees (you can test this with a candy thermometer)
Step 3: hot glue tabbed wick into the bottom of your vessel
Step 4: Pour your (cooled to 140*) melted wax into your vessel. This part was tricky and messy for me, and next time I would definitely use something with a pouring spout instead of a bowl.
You can clip the wick with a clothespin to keep it in place while the wax cools and hardens.
Enjoy your candle! My candle looks awesome, but it's burning in an interesting way, and I think it's because I combined my almost-gone Volcano candle with my old ikea candles and the wax mix wasn't my best choice. Next time I would use 100% of the same wax, plus a pouring spout for transferring the wax, and would hopefully have better results. Still, it's so cool to make your own candles and I like knowing the method and process behind it.
