Hey guys, it's Charlotte. Today on Maker's Moments, we'll be showing you how to make a wooden wick candle.
Candle making is an exciting and fun craft - we're going to walk you through how in just eight simple steps,
you can make your very own luxury wooden wick candle.
First you'll want to get prepped. You're going to need the following -
Vessels - Today we're going to be using two vessels from our aura collection.
Wax - which I have behind me.
Fragrance oil.
Wooden wicks, wick clips, wick stickers, safety labels, a stirring utensil,
wick trimmer, thermometer, pouring pitcher, and a double boiler.
So now we're going to get started heating things up. Make sure you're working on a heat-resistant surface that's easy to clean off.
You'll want to take a damp cloth and just clean
out your vessels to remove any dust or debris that might be in them.
I've already done this part but you'll want to take a stove safe pot and fill it
with water until it reaches about three inches to 12.7 centimeters in height,
and you're going to want to preheat this so that the water is barely simmering - simmering but not boiling.
Now I'm gonna get started melting the wax down. So today I'm using our virgin coconut soy wax by The Woden Wick Co. (NOW makesy)
This is sold in five pounds slabs.
I chose this wax because it's super easy to work with,
and if this is your first time making candles, it has really great glass adhesion and fragrance throw.
You're going to want to divide your wax into small chunks.
You can use a wax cutter or a knife to do this.
We're going to break them into small chunks and then place them into the pouring pitcher.
This wax is super smooth and easy to cut through.
The total ounce fill of each vessel is equivalent to the amount of wax needed per vessel.
For example if you have an 8 ounce vessel, you're going to need 8 ounces of wax.
If you want to determine how much wax you need for your vessel,
you can fill up a measuring cup with water and pour it into your vessel.
That will tell you how much liquid you need to fill the container.
If you're using a vessel from The Wooden Wick Co. (NOW makesy) like the Aura vessels, you can just look on the
product page on www.makesy.com for the ounce fill for that particular vessel.
If you happen to be using a flake wax instead of wax slab like the one we're using today,
you can simply weigh the flakes with a scale to determine the amount that you need to melt.
For these two vessels, you're going to need 20 ounces of wax, which is the equivalent to
roughly a quarter slab of the wax that we have here today.
You can divide the slab into quarters with
the wax cutter or the knife into four similar sized pieces and then you can just use
these chunks and place them into your pouring pitcher and begin to melt them.
You should leave the pouring pitcher until the wax is completely liquefied
and has reached the appropriate mix and pour temperature.
For your wax type, if you're unsure about the mix and pour temperature, just refer to the
manufacturer or product page where you purchased the wax. If you're using the
virgin coconut soy like I am today in this tutorial, you can mix and pour the
wax to 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 82 to 88 degrees Celsius.
While the wax is melting you're going to want to assemble your wicks and place
them into the vessel. If you've never used wooden wicks before they're really
easy to use - they stand up straight on their own with the help of the provided wick clips.
For help with which wick to use, you can check out our wick selection guide
online for suggestions on which wick is the best for you, we've included the link below.
For this candle I'm using the crackling booster 0.03 in 0.625
width from the Wooden Wick Co. I'm using this wick because of the way it
performs with the virgin coconut soy wax, and this particular size wick works for the Aura vessel.
Understanding the relationship between wicks, wax, and vessel size is key to successful candle making with wooden wicks or cotton wicks.
It isn't hard at all - there's a link below which is a great foolproof guide to picking the right wick.
So now that you have your wicks and clips ready to go,
you can gently press the wick into the wick clip and just rock it back and
forth until it's fully inserted in the wick clip. I'm going to do this for both
wicks and clips because I'm making two candles today. Now I'm going to take
out my wick stickers which you can use to adhere the wick and clip assembly to
the bottom of your vessel.You just peel the wick sticker off of its sheets,
place it on the center bottom of the wick clip and then peel away the second
side of adhesive and place it in the center bottom of your vessel.
Do that for both containers and you can repeat this process no matter how many candles you're making - just wick each one of them.
Next I'm going to check the temperature of my wax.
I have a thermometer in here and the wax is now at the suggested
mix and pour temperature. Once you've reached this perfect temperature, it's
time to stir things up. I'm going to remove the pouring pitcher and the
thermometer from the double boiler. Use a heat resistant glove to do this because
the pitcher is going to be hot. Now you can measure and pour in your fragrance
and stir it briskly for two to three minutes. This prolonged stirring will
help the molecules of the fragrance oils actually bond with the wax molecules for
consistency. Today we're using water lily and rosehip from our Naturals selection
at The Wooden Wick Co. (NOW makesy) It's a bright and earthy fragrance with
notes of lemon, orange, rose hip and ocean pine.
This is our 2 ounce size which is the appropriate amount for these 2 Aura vessels - this means we're
going to be using one ounce of fragrance oil for each candle, which will give us a
10 percent fragrance load. To dive into the math here, the fragrance load of 10
percent is the amount of fragrance concentration in your total wax fill
for each vessel. In this case my aura vessels have 10 ounce wax fill each,
making the ratio of fragrance concentration 1/10, or 10%, which equals
one ounce. This is an excellent fragrance load that will give you a powerful hot
and cold throw. If you're making more than two candles, you can refer to our
fragrance percentage chart in the links below for exact details and pouring
measurements based on your desired fragrance load.
Ok here we go!
Now it's time to pour your candles. Slowly pour the blend of wax and
fragrance into your vessel until between half an inch (12.7 mm) to one inch (25.4 mm) above the wick
remains on the wax depending on your preference and the vessel size.
For bigger vessels it's normally best to leave approximately one inch remaining
above the vessel, but if you're using a votive or a shorter vessel, half an inch should be sufficient.
Now we get to chill out - let your candle set on a flat surface for at least 24 hours.
Once your candles have fully cooled you can use a pair of wick trimmers to trim your wooden wicks down to 0.2 inches or 5 mm above the wax.
Lastly, apply safety labels to the bottom of your candles.
Congrats, you're a candle maker! Once you've created your candles it's important to make sure
you properly care for them and store them - after all, these are your beautiful new creations.
Make sure to trim your wick in between burns where the wood
naturally breaks off - this will prevent sooting. You can trim the wick by gently
pinching the burnt bits off with your fingers when the candle is completely cooled.
Never burn your candle for longer than 4 hours. We recommend burning in
cycles of 2 to 3 hours or until full melt pool has been achieved.
This maximizes an even burn and also maximizes the throw of your fragrance.
When not in use, store your candles upright in a cool and dry environment and away from direct sunlight.
Are you ready to put your newfound knowledge into practice?
Everyone has an interesting first candle making story - share yours in the comments below!
If you want to purchase any of the components
that I used in this tutorial video today, we're going to link them all below.
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See you next time on Maker's Moments. Happy Making!