Liquid wax candles are made by pouring molten wax into containers and allowing the container to cool, forming an outer shell of solid wax while leaving a pool of liquid wax in the bottom.
What are liquid wax candles?
Among other wax candles, liquid wax candles are made by filling containers with wax and allowing them to cool, leaving the now solid wax shell with a pool of liquid wax in the bottom.
What is it made of?
Liquid wax candles are made of paraffin, stearine, or beeswax. Paraffin is cheap and has a low melting point so it’s easy to melt but burns poorly by itself. Stearine is harder than paraffin, burns longer but costs more. Beeswax is harder still and burns well, but is expensive.
How much does it cost?
Let’s see. It depends on the type of wax you use which varies in price based on quality, how much wax you need for your container plus there are your fuel costs if you choose to buy them instead of making them yourself out of waste paper products.
Won’t the wax pool get too hot?
Liquid wax candles are not intended to burn longer than 1-2 hours because they do get very hot even though there is no open flame. If you’re going to burn one longer than that just put a heat-resistant mat under it or similar.
How does it work?
The wax pool in the bottom of a liquid wax candle heats up and melts the rest of the wax. Some heat is lost as it travels through the walls of your container, but it will still take a while to cool completely. This can be solved by insulating your containers, but there’s no need for that if you don’t mind waiting overnight for them to cool. Once they’ve cooled down enough to solidify again put them in clean paper bags until next time you want to light.
Advantages of Liquid Wax Candles
Liquid wax candles are easier to make than traditional solid-wax candles and can be made using many different types of materials for wicks. They take more effort than simply using a pre-formed candle or block of beeswax, but there are several advantages:
First, they’re extremely cheap to make. You probably already have all (or at least most) of the supplies needed around your house. And even if you don’t, they cost only pennies per candle.
Second, it’s easy to get interesting effects with colors and shapes. Since all you need is melted wax, you can mix in food coloring, dye, clay, glitter– whatever strikes your fancy.
Finally, they make interesting conversation pieces since most people don’t make them at home; if you tell guests that the candles are made of wax and only cost pennies to make, they’ll be both intrigued by your frugality and impressed by your creativity!
Making Candles With Liquid Wax
Supplies you will need:
- old or new containers (for holding the liquid wax)
- wick (you may use any material for this; I’ve had success with yarn and thin strips of cedar bark)
- candle wicking is also an acceptable alternative (this is a string that is sold at some craft stores for this particular purpose)
- optional: dye or colorant (liquid candle dyes or any other type of food coloring will work fine), clay, glitter, etc. to mix into the wax
- paper bags (these are just to keep your new candles in until they cool completely so they don’t get dust on them)
- heat source (such as stovetop or oven)
Supplies you probably don’t have around the house but can buy locally:
- paraffin/stearine/beeswax (we use beeswax since it’s cheapest and best for burning; looks nice too! You can also old candles that are no longer any good)
How to Make Liquid Wax Candles
Making candles with liquid wax is pretty simple. This project requires flame so it’s best to do this outside or near an oven, stovetop, etc. You could also use a hot plate if you have one available. If you must work inside, open some windows for ventilation!
First, make sure your containers are clean and the surface of the metal/glass is free of dust by wiping them down with a paper towel. Otherwise, the candle will be covered in dust after it’s done which isn’t very pretty. Prepare whatever materials you wish to mix into your candles now as well. You can mix anything from dye to clay to glitter into the finished product but keep in mind that dye will color your wax once it’s melted, not just the container.
Next, place your containers on a heat source and wait for them to start heating up. If you wish, put one wick into each container or just use one wick in multiple containers (to save time). Put 2-3 drops of dye into mine as well since it isn’t really noticeable once the candle is burning and it saves me from having to mix colorant with wax later.
Once everything’s heated up and melted (brown stearine looks like chocolate!) pour it into your containers slowly. Try not to splash any out if possible, but don’t worry too much about this. It’ll still look fine even if there are some splashes! You can also add glitter or clay at this time to get different effects.
You’ll know the wax is cool enough when it starts getting a little cloudy and a skin forms on top. It should still be liquid underneath so you can mix in whatever else you want!
Once everything’s mixed in, set your candles somewhere they can completely cool off without being disturbed too much. I recommend lining them up outside or on a table if possible since they’re pretty fragile until they’ve hardened fully.
The final product will look somewhat translucent with bubbles throughout due to the air/heat trapped inside after pouring, but these will go away once the candle hardens completely. Any dye or colorant that leached into the container is essentially permanent so unless there was a ton, you won’t even notice it.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to make liquid wax candles, go ahead and give it a try! If you have time, experiment with different wick materials (or no wick at all), containers, colorants, dyes/glitters/clay/etc. If you like this article or would like to see more things like it in the future let me know by leaving a comment below! Also, be sure to check out our other articles on our site.