Light on… homemade natural candles!
You love subdued ambiances and the beauty of pretty candle lighting… But you’re not really a fan of commercially sold candles because they often contain petroleum derivatives and other moderately ecological additives? Good news, there is a solution so you don’t have to deprive yourself: learn how to make your own candles! we editorial staff provides you with a recipe for a 100% natural homemade candle.
How to make 100% natural candles?
Making a natural candle: the ingredients
To make a natural candle on your own, here are the materials you will need:
- A small glass jam jar type jar (cleaned, washed and dried of course).
- Beeswax ( it is easily found in organic stores and beekeepers).
- A wick (or cotton thread).
- A saucepan (or a bain-marie accessory).
- Wooden skewers (or pencils).
- Optional: a few drops of essential oils with a flash point above 65°C.
To create scented candles, pour a few drops of essential oils into the candles . Count 30 drops of essential oils for 70 g of wax. Lemongrass in summer, true lavender in spring, orange in winter, ylang-ylang in autumn… There is no shortage of choice. Be careful, essential oils are flammable above a certain temperature (we speak of the flash point). The flash point is not the same for all essential oils. Remember to find out before choosing your essential oils. And bring an accurate thermometer when making your candles!
The icing on the cake: you can see that in terms of budget, making a homemade candle is even cheaper than buying one commercially!
The recipe for making your own eco-friendly candles
Now that you have all the materials needed to make a natural candle in front of you, it’s time to get down to business:
- Start by inserting the beeswax shavings into the small glass jar.
- Place the glass jar filled with wax in a saucepan in a bain-marie and melt the wax until it has completely liquefied.
- Remove the pot from the bain-marie. If you have chosen to add essential oils, now is the time to add them!
- Now dip the wick of your future natural candle into the wax and hold it firmly in the center using the skewers (or pencils).
- Leave to sit for at least 3 hours in a cool place while waiting for the wax to harden.
- And for more charm, consider putting your candle in a pretty colored glass or in a pretty tealight holder that you already have at home!
Natural decorations to add to your candles
Some natural decorations can be added in homemade natural candles.
Add dried flowers to your candle , after the wick stage, when your candle has started to dry and is still soft. Dry your flowers yourself for a 100% eco-friendly DIY.
In winter, citrus fruits are delicious to eat and can also be used to make many DIYs. You can pour citrus peels into homemade candles.
You can also add natural food coloring to your candle.
Decorating ideas to customize your homemade candles
Glitter, fake snow… Spruce up your candles with our decorating tips .
To create festive candles, glue glitter on them . Choose eco-friendly, plastic-free glitter. Mix glitter with solvent-free glue. Wait until your candle is completely dry and has completely hardened before applying a brush to the part to which you want to add the glitter. Let dry.
For the end of year celebrations, create a candle surrounded by snow! You need Epsom salt for this. Spread solvent-free glue with a brush on the part of the candle to be customized. Place Epsom salt in a container. And roll your candle in it, to cover the glued part well. Then let it dry.
You can also write or draw on the candles. Equip yourself with candle pencils and personalize your creations.
Recycling tips: give your candles new life!
Here’s a 100% clever little tip that will allow you to create a candle in recovery mode : when your natural candles have finished burning, rather than throwing away the pieces of wax that remain in the glass jar, scrape them Using a cutter, set them aside… And use them to give life to a new candle, in which the beeswax will simply have been replaced by your candle remains!
Another recycling tip for using a leftover candle stuck in the bottom of a tealight holder:
Pour boiling water into your tealight holder, and wait for the rest of the candle to rise to the surface.
Let the wax cool and dry then remove it from the glass: you now have a mini wax cake in your hands!
Make a hole in the middle of the wax with the tip of a knife or a skewer, then place the piece of wax on a new candle! Obviously, for this trick to work, you need to put the candle on a candle of the same caliber.
You can also make wax pucks by pouring your candle mixture into small molds. Before the wax is completely rigid, make a small hole at one end of the puck to pass a piece of rope or cotton thread through. Place the wax pads in the wardrobes to perfume them.