Transcripts
1. Candle Making Intro: Hi, my name is Katie. I'm the maker and
owner behind lather. Unlike CO, I make
soaps, candles, scrubs, bath blend, solves body butters, lip balms, masks,
all kinds of things. But soaps and candles
are my favorites, which is why I named
my business lather. Unlike comb, when I
first got started, I read lots of books
and blog posts all over the place so that I can learn the best practices
and tips and tricks. He's tons of testing and
trial and error until I came up with
standard procedures that I use in my business. And today I'm going to
share them with you. We'll be making four ounce
scented soy wax candles. We'll talk about the wax, the wick, the containers, and we'll go through all the
steps that you need to do in order to make your very
own scented candles. In the next video, we're
gonna get started with all the ingredients and tools
that you need. Here we go
2. Candle Making Tools & Supplies: Okay, Let's talk about all
the things that you need to make your own four ounce
centered soy wax candles. To start any wax. I like to use soy
wax because it's vegan and it has
a nice slow burn. Some people say it's
temperamental and that you need more sent to work with
this kind of wax. But it's my preferred, lacks some other options
that you might consider. Our beeswax candles. Bee's wax has a nice aroma
that helps purify the air, but you have to rely on bees to make the wax so it's
not considered vegan. It's also a nice,
hard solid wax. Paraffin wax is inexpensive and it holds sense
well, however, it's not considered eco-friendly
because it's made as part of the oil
production process. Coconut wax is eco-friendly
and it has a nice scent row, which means it
disperses, sends nicely. However, it can be
pretty expensive. In fact, I even had a
hard time finding it, even though it creates
a nice clean burn, it may or may not
be a good option. Next, we're going to talk
about WIX. A lot of the time. I use these little
cotton wicks that have a little built-in base to hold onto the bottom
of the container. So sometimes I use
these wooden Wix that come with a base that
you can stick them into. I like to double them up. These cotton wicks actually come with the soy wax that I order, which I'll link to so that you can check that one out
too if you'd like. There's also hemp, Wix
and other options. So when you're
choosing your wick, it depends a little bit on
what kind of container using. Like these ones are great in this skinny little
glass container. But they're a little bit slim
for this wider container. Wick isn't wide enough. You can end up with
something called tunneling, where the flame and the melted wax doesn't go
all the way to the edge. So you end up with a tunnel through the middle
of your candle. Instead of nice burning
all the way through. Haven't found a good sort of equation for figuring
out what kind of wiki need. I've mostly use trial and error. Also, a width that's
oversized will end up burning hotter and faster and
wasting some of your wax. So if you want to use a container and you
want to use small Wix, you can also do multiple Wix, like two or three in
the same container. Let's talk about containers. There are three things
you need to think about when you're
choosing your container. One, is it fireproof? You don't want your
container to catch on fire to it leak-proof. You don't really want
wax coming through your container and
make a big mess on your table or wherever
you're burning your candle. And three, it won't crack
or break something. You don't want to
make a big mess. Also, it's dangerous if it
cracks and breaks and then your hot wax and fire
goes everywhere. So these kind of metal
tins are good as long as the flame is in the center enough and it's
not so thick and wide, the container gets really
hot and dangerous to handle. To me the best option is glass. I usually buy these
small four ounce jars. You can also reuse
like jars that food comes in or
other glassware. Today we're gonna be
making candles with both this wide glass jar and these lightly narrower
amber glass jars. Be careful with and Glazed
Ceramics and cement because it has those little holes and wax can get stuck there and then
it becomes a fire hazard. Also things like wood or not a good choice because they're naturally a fire hazard. But you can also use
glazed ceramics or reuse bowls as long as it's not too wide at the top and
narrow at the bottom, that makes it hard
to pick a good wick. So let's look at some of the other things
that you'll need. We talked about the
different styles of Wicks when you're using
these cotton wicks, they can be a little bit flimsy
when you pour the waxen. So we use these little holders to keep them in place in
the center of the candle. And personally, I like to
use these blue dots to hold the bottom of the wick onto
the base of the container. They're just little
dots of glue, but you could also use hot glue or any other kind of glue
to help hold them down. Or some people also
use like a drop of melted wax to hold it in place and then pour
the other waxen. You'll also need a thermometer because it will be
heating the wax to 180 degrees and
then cooling it to 120 degrees before
we add the sentence. So it's important to be able
to measure the temperature. I also have a half
tablespoon measuring cup. This is the perfect amount of essential oil to make
a four ounce candle. I also have this long spoon that came with his wax
melting pitcher. That's perfect because
it's just the right height and it's devoted
to candle making. I don't use this to eat with or anything like that.
To make your candles. You'll need a double boiler, so you'll use a pot
and then put a picture inside with a wax
inside of the picture. Instead of all these things. This was the picture
that I started with. I thought it was super
cute, super fun. But then as I got
more indicated while making it wasn't
really big enough. And the thickness of
this made it take longer for the wax to heat up and for the wax to cool down. So I got these taller, thinner candle making pictures that came with the spoon,
that's the perfect height. And it comes with a little
hot pad for it to sit on because you don't want
to put this straight on your counter when
it's 180 degrees. I also have some
warning stickers. They say to prevent fire
and serious injury, burn candle within sight, keep away from drafts
and vibrations, Keep out of the reach
of children and pets. Never burn the candle on or near anything
that can catch fire. Burning instructions, trim wick to one-quarter inch
before lighting. Keep candle free of
any foreign materials, including matches
and WIC trimmings only burn the candle
on a level of fire resistance surface do not burn the candle for more
than 4 h at a time. These are all my
candles, even when I'm giving them to a friend
or keeping them for myself, just in case you never know
who might end up using it. I also have a ton
of essential oils. This is a very small
part of my collection. Today we're going to
be doing lavender. And truly, I also have scissors and
my collection of supplies because you aren't
to trim your wick to match the size
of your container. You'll also need a scale for measuring the amount of
wax that you're going to use. My number one favorite
tool out of all of these things for candle
making is this heat gun. It's not strictly necessary. If you pour perfect
candles, you won't need it. But if you have a bubble
on top or if somehow somebody floats by and lands in your candle and you
need to pick it out. They need to have a little divot where
you pulled that out. This makes it perfectly straight and smooth because
it just melts at the top. Also, I use this when I'm adding flowers or crystals
or anything to the top of the candle so that
I can make the candle as a regular candle
and then just melt the top part so that
it's perfect for it. Sprinkling little
decorations on. That's everything you
need. In the next video, I'm going to share a
little bit with you about making your
own scent blends. The aroma therapy
one-on-one. See you there?
3. Creating Scent Blends: Creating your own Scent Blends, whether you're making soaps, candles, essential oil rollers, or any other kind of creation. Making your own
Scent Blends can be a FUN and rewarding experience. Essential oils are natural, can be organic, and they're
always plant-based. They have unique
nutritive properties depending on what
plant they come from. There, fun2 blend and
make your own sense. Essential oils come
from the plants leaf, seed, flower, root, or bark. Essential oils are volatile
aromatic compounds and they're captured with cold
press process or distillation. So this is one way to think about which Scents
to blend together. Mint Essential Oils blend well with wood, IRB, and citrus. So let's say you were starting with peppermint, which
is pictured here. And he's thought blending it with his citrus
oil would be nice. So you might pick grapefruit. And that would be a great blend. Or if you were looking
at these floral section, you might choose maybe lavender, floral Essential Oils
blend well with wood, spicy and citrus oils. So say you wanted a wood, maybe you choose sandalwood. Sandalwood lavender would
be a beautiful scent blend. Also, it says
herbaceous Oils blend well with wood and mint oils. Spicy and central
oils blend well with wood and floral and citrus oils. Would essential oils
blend with mint, floral, IRB, spicy
and citrus oils. And citrus Essential Oils
blend well with wood, spicy floral and mint oils. This image is a different way to think about the
same kind of thing. So different themes of
Scents blend well together. Each of these categories Blends well with the ones next to it. For example, herbal oils
would blend well with citrus oils or
woodsy Oils or both. If you wanted to make a
slightly more advanced scent, or fluoro oils would go with
citrus or exotic sense. This is a great way to pick which sense you want
to put together. Another way to think about which essential oils
to blend together. And also the proportions is through classifying
oils as top, middle or base notes. Top, middle and base
notes can be used in a predictable ratio
to make pleasing sense. Approximately 15% top
note Essential Oils, 20% middle note essential oils, and 65% base notes. Or another kind of
template for making an essential oil
blend can be with this ratio with
approximately 30% top notes, 20% middle or heart notes, and 50% base notes. So top notes are typically citrus fruits like
lemon or bergamot, or aromatics like
lavender and limit grass. Lavender is tricky because a lot of the time
it can fit into two categories that can be considered a top note
or a middle note. There are a number
of oils that kind of sway back and forth
between being top, middle, or middle
and base notes. Heart or middle notes include
categories like floral, green, fruity, and ******. And base notes are woody
scents and Balsamic sense. Top notes. These Scents
create the first impression, but they don't last long. Their light, crisp
and penetrating. Some examples of top note
oils are lemon, lime, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, basal bergamot,
lemongrass, peppermint. Middle or hard notes are scents that should be
the body of the blend. They soften and round up the fragrance to
harmonize the mixture. And you usually Scents
them after the top note. Examples of middle
or heart notes are chamomile, cinnamon, clove, Claros age for
Rosemary, geranium, eucalyptus, juniper berry, T
tree, Cyprus, and lavender. Base notes are usually not
recognized right away. It may even take several
minutes before you Scents them. They tend to become
more pleasant over time and they can give
depth to the blend. Some examples of base notes
are truly sandalwood, frankincense, cedar wood, ginger, MMR, vanilla, Vancouver. Hello Christiane, rows,
Jasmine and labeling. This slide helps us to
decide which Scents we want to put together and which ones would
make a nice blend?
4. Measuring the Wax: The first thing I do is measure the Wax because as it's melting, you can take care of some of the other things that you need to do before you can ready
to pour the candles. So I think my picture and I put it on the
scale of First thing you need to do is tear the scale so that it's on zero width
the picture on it. So you're just measuring
the weight of the Wax. And I measured in
grams because it's exactly 100 g for
each four ounce jar. That makes it pretty
easy to multiply how much Wax I need for six or four or eight
candles today we're making 63 Amber and three clear. So I need 600 g of wax
and I disliked him. Scoop it straight into the Wax, then put it back on this scale. So for bread 392, so we need some more
lump-sum or wax. And I like to kinda
brushed it off so that if there any little
extra pieces, they stay behind 709 too much. Put some back. It's kind of a guess and
check situation here. Six-fifths, DIY,
little more out. 599. So I'm just going to put
a few little flakes. Perfect. 600. Then I'm gonna go ahead and
put this right on the stove inside of the other pan with water inside so that it's
a double boiler, water in here and
then this in here. And I'm gonna put it
on a medium low heat. You don't want to heat it up too fast because
you don't want to miss that 180 degrees mark. That's what we're aiming for
when we're heating it up. With this, all have your thermometer at the
ready so that you can check on the
temperature regularly. If you have a container that you don't know
the measurement of, you can either fill it up
with water and then pour the water into a
measuring cup to see how many ounces it is. Like if it's 8 oz, you'll need 200 g of wax
because 4 oz is 100 g of wax. Or if it's 2 oz,
then you'd need 50. You can divide and multiply to change the amount of wax based on how the amount of ounces of Your Container and compares to a forums container
5. Melting the Wax: Prepare your double boiler by adding some water to the pot. Then put your picture
of measured wax into the pot and turn the
stove to medium-low heat. Heat the wax to 180 degrees
of thermometer will help. When the wax reaches
180 degrees, turn off the stove
and wait for the wax to cool to 120 degrees. People love to ask me,
how long does it take? But it really depends on your climate and the
weather that day, and also how many candles are making it once, the
more waxy have, the longer it takes to heat up, and the longer it
takes to cool down. It also depends on your picture. Remember I showed you
my red one that took a long time to heat
up and cool down. And that new metal, one that I have, it's
thinner metal is quicker. So there are a lot of
different factors, which is why I'm
telling you about the temperature
instead of the timing
6. Preparing Your Containers & Wicks: So now that the wax is
set up, melting inside, we're ready to
prepare the Wix and their containers so that
when the wax is melted, we're ready to pour him
right in right away. The first thing I
like to do is attach the stickers on the bottom because there's no
way I can forget. Safety first. So you just apply the sticker to the middle of the candle. And I like to stick
it on rubbery round. Same with these ones. Sometimes they get
a little messy, so you just have to make sure it's clean first product. Then we're ready to
prepare the Wix. For these wooden Wix, I actually like to
double them up. So I snap them in half and then put them
together side-by-side. Then stick them inside of
these little kinda holders. Press it down between the two, and then center it, snap it in half, put them together, press it into the center
of the holder. Centric. Snap it, double it. Press it. Then. This is a little tall. So I'm going to trim it. I like to use the scissors to perforate it
so that I can see exactly where exactly the top
of the container would be. Then from there I cut
actually a little bit below that because when I go ahead
and put the lid on top, I don't want this part to be
pressing against the lid. It tends to make a mark on
the leg and bend the lead. The lead is kinda
like a thin metal so it doesn't compete well
with the wood and Wix. And you don't want to mess up your candle where
it's perforated. I go down a little
bit below that. That's more than I usually do. And then I like to try to infer another containers so that I don't have to go chasing
them all with that. So that'll be about perfect. Stick it inside, kinda
perforate it or measure it. So there's a little
line trim just below the line into another container
so you don't lose it. Same thing, measure it, trim it. And from there, I use the glue dots and stick
it right on there. And then once the
goal is on the base, I look for the center
of the candle. Give me your best eyeballing. Same thing with the next one. Perfect. Then for these cotton wicks, they're not as stable and
sturdy as the wooden wakes. I still want them a
little bit shorter because this much extra
is a little bit hard, but we do want a little
bit sticking up so that I can go through the hole
in this little brackets. So I'm going to measure it
so it's kinda above and these ones because
I'm measuring it tall, I'm not as careful. And then same thing.
We'll shoot for gluing these on the
center of the container. Again, we're just eyeballing it. You begin our best effort. Then this will put
on in the middle. Same thing with the next one. The glue. Then eyeball it in the
middle, press it down. And but that is
so it's centered. So when you're putting
your containers out, one thing you're going
to want to consider is the proximity to the stove. You want an easy route straight from the
stove so that you don't have a long way to go
with your hot melted wax. Also, you want to
put the candles out somewhere that
there'll be safe, nobody is going to bump them and somewhere that they
can sit for a while. You don't want them
right in the middle of the kitchen when you actually
want to be making dinner. So find a convenient
and safe location to put your containers
for pouring your wax. When I'm getting
ready to pour my wax, I like to set my
containers up so that they're in kind of like
a little mini arc. And there's a good amount of space between them
because when I'm pouring my elbow is gonna be up and then I'll move
on to the next one. The next one. But you can set
them up All right, next to each other
in a straight line. I wouldn't recommend doing rows because of these things that stick up that makes it
a little bit harder, but play around, see
what works best for you.
7. Adding Scents to Your Candles: Well, when it rains a lot and as I was waiting for this waxed melt,
It's not a boring. So we've moved everything inside and we're back to 120 degrees, and we're ready
to add our scent. Each candle will get about
half a tablespoon of essential oil that's
about 150 drops. To me, it's the
easiest to measure it into this half
tablespoon because I know that each candle
that gets this much. So if I'm doing six candles
that I need to use, six of these have tablespoons. And I'm going to
start with lavender. Lavender is a middle note. So I'm going to do to
lavender half tablespoons. And for Julie. And then this just put aside some essential oils
are really strong and they can burn through pain. So be careful with green, but then have my
super long headed in the spoon and I'm ready
to stir for 2 min. If you're wondering why we
have to serve for 2 min, if it's seeming kind of long. That's how long it takes
for the essential oil to bind to the wax. So that's how it gets
dispersed all through and it doesn't just end up
sitting in a pool on top. Had that happen, it's not great. So make sure that you
set a timer and you do the full 2 min. And when the time is up, put your spoon or
whatever you've been staring with something
that's okay to get wax on. And then we're gonna
go ahead and pour into all of the containers
8. Pouring Your Candles: And then we're gonna
go ahead and pour into all of the containers. I like to pour them like maybe three corners hold
rather than all the way full so that I can go back
and make sure that they're even a couple of pointers for pouring. I like to try to aim the end of the pictures in
the space between the wick and the edge
of the container. For this one, I
like to aim between this bracket and the container. When you feel like you've
gotten as much as you want, then change the angle of
the container and wait for it to finish dripping before
moving on to the next one, I didn't have any spills
about technique and I used to have a lot of drips on
the side of my candles. So pull it up and wait
until it's not dripping. And then go down to the next
one in for that corner space between the wake of whatever kind and the
edge of the container. If you're a purist and
you want your picture to only smell like
the essential oils that you're using for
any given candle and you do not want any residue
from previous sentence, you can spray a little
bit of rubbing alcohol. And that kinda neutralizes it so that when you put
your neck sense in, it just smells like those
9. Finishing and Decorating Your Candles: So you can see that
the candles are starting to solidify
a little bit. They're becoming a milky texture instead of that
more clear texture. And I noticed that
some of my wigs are not quite in the center. So cheat a little bit. And I kinda pushed them into
place and hold them for maybe 10 s so that the wax starts to kind of
keep that form around them. And then when I let go,
they stay in the middle. This will affect
the wax on the top because it was making
a nice smooth surface. And then when you
move the wick, it's kinda like little ice chunks. They move over to this side
and they all shift over. But that's why we have
the heat gun so that we can smooth all of that out. So I'm gonna go ahead and center all these
wigs that got shifted. And this one just has a bubble that might even stay
on top for now. And then we can also
fix that with the gum. Or you can tap and hope
that it might go away. He can fixes everything. And if it's not
staying just yet, like this one isn't, give
it a little more fun. Ones. I kinda turn over the bracket and pull
it towards the center, it so that it's just
kinda prompt on there. If it's not perfectly
centered already, which theoretically it
would be, but it's not. Now we're going
to let them fully solidified before we
do anything else. So the candles are totally dry. I can touch them and
I don't get wax on my fingers so we can
remove these guys. And as you saw there,
how perfectly smooth. So it's time for the heat gun
to Settings high and low. I usually go for high. I'm not patient
enough for awhile. And I start with about
5 s in the middle. Then I go around. That was done quick and easy. So we're done with
these super long Wix. Time to trim. I usually rest the scissors on the
edge of the container, the jar, and then hold onto
the wet with the other hand. And then these ones also we can melt the top so that they're perfectly
smooth, it nice. And this is also the time
when we can get creative. Sometimes after
you melt the top, that's the perfect time
when the wax is wet and liquid to also add some flowers or
crystals or memory like. The only thing with crystals
is you wanna be sure you don't melt it too much
because they're heavy, they'll drop to the bottom of whatever your wet wax pool is. Make sure you don't melt so much that the crystals get lost. But flowers in general float. So get wild with your heat gun. And I'll put in the same way. Then you're ready to
add some flowers. I like to use camel meal or other flower
back-and-forth of my hands. So the little baby petals
just kind of sprinkle on top. I also love to use rose petals. And loving. You want to be sure that
the size of the flowers that you choose match
the size of the candle. If you don't want a huge
flower that's going to come into the area that the flame is or takeover the
look of the candle
10. Labeling Your Candles: Well, the rain stopped again. So I brought our
finished candles outside for a last
couple of videos. Let's talk labels. These ones are totally
plain on the outside. I recommend at least putting a handwritten label
of some kind on it. A lot of jars come with labels. I think these ones came
with the clear jars. Or you can also get labels printed to say like the name of the candle
that you created. If you want to name your
scent blend and what it's all about and put your logo and
any other declarations. Here's another example. So those are just some ideas. As I said, I at least
recommend putting a handwritten label on
there so you remember what your scent blend
was so that if you want it to make
it again, you can
11. Candle Care & Tips: Let's talk a little bit about
Candle care and safety. First of all, always
burner candles on a level, flat, sturdy, stable surface, and always blow the candle out before you leave the room
or it happened to bed. Never leave a candle lit for
more than 4 h at a time. Keep the winter trimmed between eighth and a
quarter of an inch. If the wick is too tall, then you'll end up with a large flame like this one
is probably an inch tall, which I let happen on purpose
so that I could show you. So this wick is too long
and it needs to be trimmed. It's like this. This one also needs to be trimmed and you
can use scissors, work with these wooden Wix. I just grab off the top charred part
and then it's shorter. So make sure you keep your
candle Wix at a safe height. If your candle begins to smoke or if the
flame is too tall, then really you should blow it out so that you can
trim it so it's safe. Also, it's important to
keep candles away from anything that could
light on fire like this. Leaf has a little bit close actually to the edge
of that candle. And you should never do
what I've been doing, which is moving the candles
while they're lit or hot. And when you get down to
the bottom of the candle, the last quarter inch, sorry to say it's
time to let it go. Also, make sure your
candles are out of the way of pets and small children. So these candles that
we just finished today, technically we could burn
them right now, they're done. But if we let them cure than they'll have
better sent throw, the wax will be a
little bit harder, and the last a little bit longer because this kind
of vegetable wax, soy wax will keep hardening throughout the
life of the candles. So actually, the longer
you wait, the better. But technically
they're ready today. Right now. Ten to 14 day cure is ideal. Also, the first time you ever burn your brand new candidates, It's recommended
that you have at least 2 h to let it burn so that the wax pool will come
all the way to the edge. Because if your first burn you only have time to let
it go just barely. Starting around the wick. The wax will kinda
remember that. And then that can
also cause tunneling, which we talked about before. It can happen if you have
too small of a wick, if you only let it
burn a little bit, then it will also only burn that little bit the
next time you burn it. So be careful to use this
trick to avoid tunneling. That's all for
Kandel care and tips
12. Congrats & Thank You!: Congratulations on
making candles, and thank you so
much for joining me. If you enjoyed this
course, please consider leaving a review. And if you had any
questions that you didn't feel that I
answered during the course, please feel free to
message me and I'll gladly respond and help with whatever troubleshooting
you might need. Also, I would love to see
the candles that you made. Let us know what sends you use and how everything
went for you. Thank you so much and also feel free to check
out my other courses. I would love to see
you for more, making
Katia Davis, Come make soaps and candles with me!
