DIY Hand Poured Candles (Cozy Living)
Candles are a lovely way to bring hygge and comfort into your home. DIY Hand Poured Candles make beautiful holiday gifts.
Whenever I’m out shopping, I will buy myself a candle.
I can’t help it.
Marshalls.
Target.
HomeGoods.
Shopping in the Harbor.
I ALWAYS seem to bring home a votive of one time or another. Are you the same way?
For quite some time, I’ve wanted to make candles with our kids. I thought it would be a fun craft and also fun to give as gifts this Christmas.
I thought this would be perfect for the December segment of our Cozy Living Series hosted by my dear friend Jennifer at Town & Country Living.
I was surprised how easy these were to make and they kind of had science involved (which my boys love). We did some with wintery scents for the holidays but we all love lavender so we did a bunch of those, too.
I don’t know about you but I’m a huge lavender fan. The yoga studio I go to always gives cool towels fragranced with lavender at the end of class. The perfect shavasina.
Want to learn how to make your own?
I promise people on your holiday list would love these 😉
I’ve included some affiliate links in this post, you can read my full disclosure policy here. If you purchase via one of the links I may receive a portion of the sale.
DIY Hand Poured Candles
What You’ll Need
- Soy Wax Flakes
- Wicks and Center Devices
- Wooden Wicks (optional)
- Candle Pitcher
- Pot (to create a double boiler)
- Essence Oils (we used Lavender and Woodsy Fragrances)
- Jars (we used yogurt pots and some ball jars)
- Thermometer
Method
The first step is to make sure your containers are clean. Our son, Conor, LOVES yogurts and we have loads of the oui yogurt containers. I just store them in the basement. If you don’t have any, you can buy clean ones here.
I purchased a set that had soy wax flakes, wicks and centering devices, you can see that here. It came with 10 pounds of soy flakes, 100 wicks and two centering devices.
Next measure out the soy flakes into your candle pitcher.
We used one of our yogurt pots to measure and found that 18 of those created 4 small yogurt pots and 2 of the ball jars. Just to give you an idea.
Prep your jars, by placing either wicks or wood wicks in the center.
Next place put some water in a pot and place your candle pitcher in. Be careful to tip the pitcher so the handle isn’t over the flame (if you have gas) to prevent it from melting.
It’s like magic watching the soy flakes melt and become a liquid. When completely melted remove from the stove to allow to cool. The fragrance oils have a flash rate so the oil should be approximately 130 degrees. To speed up the process, we replaced the boiling water with cold water and monitored the temperature.
We added about 50 drops of the sandalwood essence for some and about a quarter of the lavender fragrance for some others. Make sure to swirl the mixture before pouring into the containers.
Here you can see in progress:
The ones on the left are cooled while the right is just poured.
Tip: the wood wicks move but you can center them after you pour the wax.
My boys decided to draw faces on the wood wicks so they’d know which ones they did 😉
Here’s how they came out:
You’ll want to trim the wicks.
They’d make great hostess gifts.
Or the perfect gift for your home to make these cold winter days seem just a little bit brighter.
Be sure to visit all my friends below for some more Cozy Living ideas!
Duke Manor Farm | Finding Silver Pennies | Saw, Nail and Paint | Creative Cain Cabin
Making It In the Mountains | Hymns and Verses | Town and Country Living | Sincerely Marie Designs
I especially love Lavender scented candles in our bedroom! The scent is so relaxing and adds to that cozy feeling for sure! Thanks for the candle making tips!!!
I agree! Lavender is such a relaxing scent. Glad you enjoyed this post.
Yes i am so glad to have these instructions, i want to make some candles and i do have some lavender now to get the rest of the supplies i will need, thank you, i pinned it.
Thanks, Marlene. I can’t wait to see how your candles come out!
I LOVE making my own candles and I’ve always wanted to try making them with wood wicks – I just love the way they crackle! Yours turned out so beautifully!
Kristi, they were so fun to make. I wondered (while making them) what took us so long… The wood wicks are so fun!
These not only look beautiful but I’m sure they smell amazing too! I can’t wait to try your method and fragrant choices. Thanks for sharing, Danielle!
They do smell AMAZING. Thank you for stopping by. xx
There’s something so wonderful about homemade candles! I like the wood wicks, too.
I love the warm white color. I’m excited to give these as gifts but also enjoy them in our home this year. In fact, I have one next to my now while I sit by the fire. xx
okay, i am so making some candles this holiday season. every year I tell myself that I want to make mine instead of buying. This was my wake up call 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad you’re gonna try to make some!
Beautiful candle pics and I bet they smell amazing. How do you like the wooden wicks?
I just love making my own candles and the wood wicks sound so awesome when you burn them adds a whole new level to the cozyness of candles! Your are just the sweetest!