So there is a person that can endlesslylong look at water and fire - natural elements give him strength and peace. In the decor of the interior, you can use a variety of elements that draw us closer to nature - decorative gardens and fountains, vases with flowers and fireplaces. But, perhaps, the most unique atmosphere of comfort and intimacy helps us to create candles. If you make candles with your own hands, the interior of your house will be truly unique and individual. It will add notes of warmth and comfort. The original candles with their own hands can become a universal souvenir that carries a practical purpose together with aesthetic pleasure. In addition, the handmade candle making takes a little time and money, while making an incredible pleasure to the one who makes them, and to the one who gives them. Many people like to put candles on shelves and store them as a souvenir, and someone lights them and enjoys contemplation of a living flame for several hours. A scented candle, bought or made by own hands, immerses in the world of bliss and dreams and gives an unforgettable pleasure. By the way, making candles with your own hands can become a fascinating hobby. What tools and materials do you need to stock up for handmade work? For the first experience of creating a candle with your own hands, any improvised means will do. 
Tools and materials
So, you will be helped at work:
- pan (in order to create a water bath),
- a vessel (in which you will melt the wax),
- Sticks (one for fixing the wick, and the other for stirring the wax),
- forms for a candle (in the middle of each form it is necessary to make a small hole);
- decorative elements, with which you can decorate your creation.
To make candles with your own hands, you will need materials such as:
- Paper threads made of 100% cotton,
- wax crayons,
- simple household candles or stubs of old candles.
And now we'll tell you step by step how to make candles with your own hands. Patience and patience!
Candle for candles
For the production of wax, paraffin or evena gel candle will necessarily need a wick. It can be made from any cotton thread, in which there are no synthetic impurities. Very original look candles with colored threads floss as a wick. The ideal wick in each case is determined individually. Its texture and thickness depend on the thickness of that part of the candle, which is intended for burn-out. For example, some decorative candles consist partly of combustible materials, and only the core burns into them. In the event that you cast a candle from wax, you should take thick threads and do not bind them too tight. For paraffin and gel candles, it is necessary to use thin tightly intertwined threads, so that when the wick burns, the wick is not smoked. Remember one more detail: when staining candles with wax crayons, small chips may not dissolve in wax or paraffin, clogging the wick. There are many similar nuances in the work, so each time it is necessary to select a certain type of wick by trial and error. Too thick a wick will cause the candle to melt too much and give a soot. Too thin a wick will go out without end. A wick for a wax or paraffin candle can be braided with a braid, twisted with a string or crocheted. It will be better if before casting a candle you will impregnate the thread with wax, but some combine these two processes. 
Shape for candles
For the production of paraffin wax candlesfit a variety of shapes of plastic and metal. These can be cans, molds for making cookies, packaging from sweets and yoghurt, jars from creams, as well as glasses and cups that can withstand heating up to 100 ° C. The choice of form is limited only by your imagination. If desired, even a milk tetrapac can be used as a form. For the first experience of making candles, you can take the simplest form in the form of a glass from yogurt. Remove the paper label - it can catch fire, and the candle in the cup will cool faster and more evenly. Exactly in the middle of the bottom of the glass with a thick needle we make a hole and insert a ready-made wick into it, fixing it from the outside with a knot. In the place of the node there will be a candle top, as the pouring will occur "upside down", and the nodule will reduce the leakage of paraffin, wax or stearin through the hole at the bottom of the glass. Then we lay across the glass any stick - a pencil, a brush, a toothpick. On it we fasten the other end of the wick. It should be located strictly in the center in a level vertical position. Thus, you will ensure uniform burning and reflow. After a complete melting of the material and chips, you can proceed to pour the candles. Next, take the tin can and slightly flatten it to form a spout - so it will be more convenient to pour the molten material. We put into the jar fragments of candles of the same quality. To make wax or paraffin candles, you can use a ladle or a pan to melt, which you do not really feel sorry for. The container must be placed in a saucepan for a steam bath. For work, you can take everything that you want to use, except glass utensils. As you already knew, before you make a candle with your own hands, water is boiled in a saucepan, and then a container with wax or paraffin for melting is immersed in it.
Staining of a candle
In order for you to reallybeautiful candles with their own hands, they need to be painted. The simplest and most recognized method of coloring candles is the use of ordinary children's wax crayons. Most available dyes, such as gouache or watercolors, are made on a water-soluble basis. Such dyes for work are not suitable, because they do not mix with paraffin or wax, they float in them with dull flakes, and then settle to the bottom. Coloring and decoration of candles can be made only by fat-soluble dyes, which are wax crayons. Some people can use shadows and lipstick to decorate candles. Of course, they can be used if you do not mind, and you are ready to spread the fragrance of your lipstick throughout the room. When choosing wax crayons it is worth to choose the softer options. The most beautiful candles are obtained from mother-of-pearl crayons. Solid crayons are planed and melt with great difficulty. Selecting the chalk to be used, turn it on a grater or with a knife into the shavings and pour it into candle sticks, carefully mixing with a stick. For the coloring of candles on sale there are special pigments in the form of tablets of various colors that can be mixed with each other, measuring the amount of dye used. As a result of using coloring pigments, you can achieve amazing results - from gentle shades, and ending with bright juicy colors. In a word, you can make original decorative candles with your own hands only with the help of various dyes. 
Fill the candle
How to make a candle when the wick is already ready andmaterial for pouring? The prepared form should be lubricated with a thin layer of vegetable oil or dishwashing liquid. Both methods work equally well. The bottom of the mold is filled with wax and let it freeze. Immediately pour the form is not recommended, otherwise through the hole a lot of material will flow out. It is better to pour the wax layers, and what will leak through the hole, you can re-send for melting. Completely filled with a candle you should slowly cool at room temperature. Do not, trying to speed up the process, put a candle in the freezer, otherwise it will spread unevenly. If you fill your candle not with the "upside down" method, you should leave some wax to fill the depressions next to the wick, appearing when drying. When the temperature of the candle is equal to room temperature, the knot on the bottom of the mold is untied, and the product is carefully extracted by pulling the wick. In the event of difficulties, you can cut the shape, or send it to the freezer for literally half a minute, and then substitute it under hot water for a few seconds. Then you need to cut off the excess part of the wick, leaving a tip in one centimeter, and ugly seams from the mold can be removed with hot water from the tap. However, with this procedure, the candle becomes turbid and loses its original shine. Therefore, making wax candles, choose a shape without seams.
Aroma candles
Knowledge of aromatherapy helps to makescented candles with their own hands. For this purpose, various essential oils are added to the wax before casting. In principle, for an aromatic candle you can use any oil, except pink. The smell of rose oil during burning becomes heavy and suffocating. By the way, an ordinary natural coffee can become an excellent flavor. You can make the decor of the candles with your hands according to the smell of the plant that they will emit during combustion. Essential oil of mint or laurel is suitable for green candles, and if you add lavender oil to the candle, it is better to use pink or lilac dyes. Essential oils of cinnamon or vanilla "ask" for warm shades. How to make an aromatic candle? It is very simple to achieve the fragrance of a candle. To do this, aromatic oils are added to the wax, paraffin or gel. Otherwise, the process of making fragrant candles is no different. By the way, you can use not only specific smells, but also mix oils, creating a real bouquet of aromas. If you doubt the compatibility of different smells, then use the recipes of handmade perfumes. If, of course, such recipes do not include rose oil. 
Gel candles with their own hands
For the manufacture of gel candles with their own handsUsually, a ready-made gel wax is used. By the way, on packages with a gel mass, candle making recipes are often given. However, it is possible to prepare a base of gelatin and glycerin. To make such a candle you will need the following components:
- 20 ml of water,
- 2 g of tannin,
- 35 ml of glycerin;
- 5 g of gelatin.
At the beginning of work, tannin is dissolved in the processheating in 10 ml of glycerol. Then continue to heat and mix the composition with glycerin residues and gelatin. In the resulting clear solution add water and bring the whole mixture to a boil. The temporary cloudiness of the solution gradually disappears. The solution is boiled until the water completely evaporates. The resulting mixture is poured into a refractory glass mold. Candles are transparent and do not spread smoke and odor when burned. If desired, the "body" of the candle can be painted with special dyes. Gel flavored candles with their own hands are made in the same way as waxes - in the solution before the oil is added essential oil. Decoration of gel candles with their own hands is a very fascinating process, which gives great pleasure. To do this, simply lay any decorative elements on the bottom of the transparent container: coffee beans, beads or beads, shells or sea pebbles, dried plants or petals of natural flowers. Then they fill it with clear gel wax. This candle looks very unusual and literally shines through.
Coffee and nautical candles
Decorative candles make by yourselfquite simply. But there's nothing easier than a coffee candle, decorated, as you understand, with coffee beans. To make it in a sufficiently large form, insert a smaller shape. In the gap formed between the walls of the two forms, coffee beans are filled, which are then filled with a candle mass. When the mass with coffee grains freezes, the walls are blown by a hot hair dryer. As a result of such manipulation, excess paraffin flows, and the coffee beans become clearly visible. After the outer layer of the candle with coffee beans is ready, it is put back into the mold and poured from inside with paraffin or wax of a different color. In the same way, you can make sea candles, in which instead of grains of coffee, sea pebbles and seashells are used. No less beautiful look transparent gel candles with coffee beans or small seashells.
Ideas for decorating candles
Many people are worried about how to decorate a candle with their ownhands? First, you can use interesting shapes to fill candles and give them personality. Glass stands also serve as an excellent element of candle decoration. For decoration, you can use special stickers, and if you own the technique of decoupage, you can decorate the candle with ordinary or special napkins. However, you should follow the rules of fire safety and use only special varnish for candles. You can make a completely original decoration of the candles, spreading before the pouring along the edges of the shape of dried flowers, shells, pieces of cinnamon or dried fruits, seeds. You can use coffee beans along with beads or rhinestones. Only in this case, decorate the finished product, inserting jewelry in a slightly melted wax or paraffin. A ready frozen candle can also be pasted with cinnamon sticks or bamboo, combining them with the same coffee grains or badan stars. By the way, such an ornament is ideal for aromatic. Remember that the use of fire-dangerous decor (dried plants or other combustible materials) must be accompanied by the manufacture of a thin wick, so that the candle melts only in the middle. For the decoration of candles in shops, special contours and markers are sold that do not burn, but are melted together with paraffin and wax, melting along with them during the burning of the wick. For ease of operation, you can use non-candle cinders, but a special candle gel, paraffin beads or ready-made wicks with a metal holder that are also available. In stores, you can even find a specially designed wax for floating candles. In a word, if you wish, you can make not only ordinary candles, but also aromatic, floating, and any decorative - coffee, gel or even elegant gift items. We wish you success in this wonderful creative process! Let the results please you and your people! We advise you to read:
