Here’s how to make beautiful DIY clean burning candles at home

Clean burning candles (such as soy or beeswax) are so much better than candles made from paraffin wax and synthetic fragrances. But let’s be honest, they can be a bit overpriced. One of the best things about candles is that they can be made at home with just a few simple ingredients. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to make clean burning candles at home that are totally toxin-free.

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Photo by Kristina Umaeva

Choose Your Wax

Beeswax

Beeswax is an all natural wax that is produced by honey bees, and it’s known as the cleanest burning candlewax. It also gives the candle a nice slow burn. We chose to use beeswax this time; Mainly because we’re near a local apiary, and it’s best to opt for local products when you can.

Soy Wax

Soy Wax is another clean burning option. This is a more economically friendly option. However there are some concerns over the environmental impact of creating soy wax, as it’s a byproduct of the soybean industry. It can also bit a bit temperamental.

Photo by Tara Winstead

Choose Your Fragrance

Essential oils are the best way to add scents to your clean burning candles, in a non-toxic way. By opting for essential oils rather than synthetic fragrances, this also helps to create soot free candles.
There are many scents to choose from, or consider creating a blend of essential oils for even an even more personalized candle. Read all about essential oil blends here!

12 Pack 160z Jars @ Amazon

Find a Nice Vessel

Get as creative as you like! You can use anything from a mason jar to handmade pottery. If your planning to make a bunch of candles, consider buying jars with lids in bulk. Pictured above are an example I’ve found for a good price, and provided my affiliate link. If you’d like to get even more crafty, use an empty toilet paper roll as a mold to create a pillar candle.

Beeswax melting in a measuring cup in boiling water.

Melt your wax using a double-boiler.

Since I don’t have a double boiler on hand, and didn’t want to purchase one solely for making candles, I created one using a glass measuring cup and a pot of boiling water. Keep in mind you’ll have to remove the cup or pot that your wax is melting in, and it’ll be quite hot. I used an oven mitt when removing my measuring cup from the boiling water.
Continuously stir your wax as it melts, and add in your essential oil for fragrance once it’s almost fully melted. You’ll want to use about 10% essential oil to wax. So if you’ve used 100g of wax, use around 10g of essential oil. Once fully melted, set the wax aside for about 15 seconds to cool.

Set of 50 Wooden Wicks @ Amazon

Securing your wick:

There are a few different kinds of wicks to choose from. Since we’re making clean burning candles, we’ll be using either a wooden or a cotton wick.

You’ll need to secure your wick to the bottom of your vessel before you pour in the wax. If you’re using a cotton wick like we did, this is extra important; Once the wick is in the liquid wax it tends to move around. You can purchase anchors for the wicks separately. although wicks usually come with them. Then you’ll need to keep the wick centered while you pour. You can do this using two pens, chopsticks etc, placed horizontally on the top of your vessel, on either side of the wick. When using wooden wicks this isn’t a problem, which makes them much more beginner friendly.

The hard part is over!

Let your candles cool completely.

During this stage, we added some dried lavender flowers to give our clean burning candles a beautiful artisanal look. If your candle cools and the top is looking a little uneven, you can fix this by re-melting the top and letting it cool again.
Once your candle has completely cooled, trim your wick down to the appropriate size.

Enjoy your handmade, non toxic clean burning candles!

That’s it! Now sit back and admire your work. These candles make a great gift. Or if you’ve truly enjoyed creating handmade candles, consider creating more and selling them at a farmer’s market or craft fair!

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Consuming more than we create establishes a rift; one which reflects our underlying exploitive attitude towards the world and those around us. We’re taking out more than we’re giving back. What the world needs is more people giving something back, creating something of their own.
-Alex J. Hughes

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