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Making homemade candles is an easy craft for beginners to master. You can keep your candle recipes simple to start with before you get all fancy and try hand-carving candles or creating dipped taper candles with multiple color layers.
But where, exactly, do you start? There are loads of candle DIY tutorials online, but most of them assume you already know most of the jargon and processes. Plus, it’s hard to find candle making tutorials that are reliable and contain safe, natural ingredients.
However, I’ve been making candles for years, so I know a thing or two about what makes a good, safe, natural candle tutorial.
I remember getting my first candle making kit as a young teen. I made a great big clunky rainbow pyramid candle and thought it was the very height of sophistication and awesomeness. Haha.
While my first attempt was arguably a bit rough and eye-gougingly bright, I still think that complete DIY candle making kits like this one are a great, affordable way to try the craft without buying a whole mess of supplies that you might not use if you decide candle making isn’t for you.
But, if you’ve already had a kit and you’re ready to move on, or you know that candle making is for you and you just want to dive straight in, I’ve done all the research for you and found some of the best candle DIY projects on the ‘net. And I’m including my simple guide to candle making for beginners to help you safely and successfully make your own candle designs.
DIY Candle Making for Beginners
Candle making can be a little daunting if you’re a complete beginner. Where do you start? What should I use for molds? How do I keep the wick in place? How do I get the set candle out of the mold? Do I even need a mold? There are a lot of questions!
That’s where this guide comes in. It will help you confidently learn how to make candles at home quickly and easily, whether you just want to make some little citronella candles to keep bugs away or you’re going for a fabulously flamboyant and decorative mason jar candle to give as a gift.
If you know how to make candles already and just want some inspiration, jump to the best DIY candle tutorials.
Or, if you really love the idea of gifting a friend or loved one a beautiful handmade candle but you don’t have the time, take a peak at our budget eco-friendly gift guide for our recommended options.
What Type of Candle Do You Want to Make?
There are many different types and sub-types of candles that you can make, so choose from these 7 high-level candle categories so you know what supplies to buy for these simple DIY projects.
Tealights
Tealights are small, short candles usually around an inch tall and an inch and a half wide. They often come in little plastic or foil containers, although I prefer glass tealight containers like these ones, or biodegradable but reusable ones like these.
Also, when I needed a lot of tealights all at once but didn’t have the time to make them, I bought these XL eco-friendly soy tealights in biodegradable containers. And I’m still reusing those little containers now, over a year later.
Tealights are perfect for using in oil burners or to heat wax melts. I use mine in my coffee pot warmer – one XL tealight keeps my French press perfectly warm all day long.
Votive Candles
Votive candles are a touch larger than tealights, reaching up to 3 inches tall, although still around 1.5 inches wide. While votives are freestanding, much like very small pillar candles, they’re commonly found in glass holders.
Pillar Candles
Pillar candles are chunky, cylindrical, freestanding candles that range from small, 2-inch wide ones to huge 1-foot wide ones (although at this size they require multiple wicks are are less common). Although pillar candles are freestanding, you’ll need a base of some kind to catch the wax as it spills over the sides.
Taper Candles
Taper candles are the long, thin candles that sit in candelabras or candle holders and that you think of traditionally being used to illuminate the dinner table before the widespread rollout of electricity, or in more modern times to create romantic ambience. Tapers are usually dipped candles that require a higher degree of skill than melt and pour candles.
Container Candles
Container candles are just what the name implies – candles poured into containers – often tins, mason jars, or similar. These DIY candles are the most popular type for people new to the craft who want to learn how to make candles.
Floating Candles
Floating candles are small candles that float in water while burning. They have round or tapered bases and are usually wide compared with their height to enable them to float and burn.
Specialty and Novelty Candles
Specialty and novelty candles encompass all those candles that don’t fit into other categories. These could be egg-shaped candles, spherical, prisms, carved, or other non-standard candle types. These often make incredibly attractive gifts for loved ones or fun party favors and stocking fillers.
What Wax to Use For Candle Making?
Unless in a survival or totally off-grid situation, we no longer use animal fat (tallow) for making candles, which is great because there are cleaner, better products readily available nowadays.
What’s not so great is that the most affordable candle and widely available candle making wax is paraffin wax, which is petroleum based. It’s by-product of the oil-refining industry, so is very much not eco-friendly. Plus, paraffin, as a petroleum product, releases seriously nasty pollutants as it burns, which you do not want to inhale or come into contact with.
For those reasons and more, I never use paraffin wax. There are far better, healthier, planet-friendly candle waxes available, many of which are affordable.
Soy Wax
Made from soybean oil, soy wax is the most affordable and widely available natural wax and one I often use myself. However, I always make sure I purchase sustainable soy wax that’s grown and processed using planet-friendly practices that don’t pollute the environment, doesn’t encourage deforestation, and doesn’t kill or displace wildlife.
Soy wax needs more dye than paraffin wax and usually results in a pastel-hued candle. It has a comparatively low melting point and burns cleanly and safely.
One thing to note is that for scent to hold within the candle and throw well when burnt, the candle needs time to cure – ideally a week – before lighting.
Caution: Check the ingredients before you buy, as soy is often mixed with paraffin to reduce cost and, if it has a minimum of 50% soy, it can still legally (although in my opinion immorally and unethically) be sold as soy.
If you want to try soy wax, which is super beginner-friendly, I recommend this great value bag that’s 100% natural.
Recommended soy wax: American Soy Organics – 100% Midwest Soy Container Wax Beads
Beeswax
Beeswax is, as the name suggests, wax harvested from beehives. Pure beeswax is costly but, in my opinion, makes the very best candles with a beautiful, sweet honey scent. I use beeswax for special homemade candles rather than everyday ones. I wouldn’t for example, waste beeswax as a tealight to keep my coffee pot warm!
It has a high melting point and burns cleanly but isn’t the easiest to work with. So, if you’re a total beginner, I’d recommend getting plenty of practice with soy or another natural wax before you progress to using beeswax.
Recommended beeswax: BACRO Natural Beeswax for DIY Candle Making Kit Supplies
Palm Wax
Palm wax is natural but obviously is part of the palm oil industry. So, if you want to use palm wax, please be responsible and opt for a sustainable product that doesn’t fuel the destruction of rainforest, kill and displace endangered species, and pollute the environment.
As a wax, palm is interesting in that is produces a feathered effect on the surface of the candles which can be quite attractive.
Recommended palm wax: Hearts and Crafts Feathering Palm Candle Wax
Jojoba Wax
Jojoba wax is less common but provides an affordable way to make a luxury candle. It has a soothing scent and is a great carrier for other scents. Jojoba wax used to be an everyday choice for candle wax and in fact, was brought onto the market as a better alternative to spermaceti wax. And it’s the by-product of jojoba oil refinement – it’s the unsaponifiable matter left over when they’ve removed the jojoba oil.
Jojoba wax is a bit on the expensive side though, so again, I’d use this for special candles or in a blend with other waxes. On the plus side, like with beeswax, you can also add jojoba wax to other homemade preparations like DIY deodorant, melt and pour soap, cold process soap, salves, lip balms, lotion bars and more.
Spermaceti wax was harvested from sperm whales, so the introduction of jojoba oil (which is really a wax) helped to significantly reduce the killing of sperm whales as, not only did it have similar (and sometimes better) properties, it was more economically viable, too.
Recommended Jojoba wax: Crafter’s Choice Jojoba Wax
Candelilla Wax
Candelilla wax is a plant-based alternative to beeswax used for candle making and in lip balms, lotions, and cosmetics. It comes from the Candelilla plant native to parts of northern Mexico and the southern US.
This type of wax has a low melting point and, although it can be used alone, is often mixed with other softer waxes to help harden them without raising their melting points. While you can buy a ready-made blend of candle wax, many candle makers prefer to experiment and find their own proprietary blend.
Recommended candelilla wax: Candelilla Wax 100% Pure & Natural
Rice Bran Wax
Rice bran wax is considered more sustainable than soy, generally speaking, and is another interesting vegan candle wax. I’ve experimented some with this, and I find I definitely need to blend this with a softer wax with a lower melting point, such as coconut wax.
Soy wax also made a reasonably good blend. A pure rice bran wax candle is too hard and brittle and, with such a high melting point, you’d need a ridiculously high melting point to maintain the melt pool and let the candle burn down. This is probably not the best choice for beginners.
Recommended rice bran wax: SZ Rice Bran Wax
Coconut Wax
Coconut wax is a great wax for blending but is pretty soft, so isn’t the best choice for a single wax. It does, however, blend very well with most other waxes, especially beeswax, soy, and jojoba. It has a lovely, natural, nutty scent and carries other scents well.
Recommended coconut wax: All Natural Coconut Wax
How to Choose the Right Wicks for Candle Making
You might think there isn’t much to choosing the right candle wick, but you’d be wrong. There are an array of different wick types and I could easily write a few thousand words just on wick materials, wick cores, and wick types. I won’t do that here – that’s a post of its own. Instead, I’m going to round up all the key things you need to know about candle wicks to help you choose the right ones.
While you can make our own, wicks are super affordable and really much more convenient, particularly as, if you buy a set like this, they’re already attached to the wick tab.
If you’re wondering why wick tabs are important, it’s because that little neck you see the wick sticking out of keeps the wick from burning right to the bottom of the container and cracking the container or causing it to overheat and maybe burn whatever the container is sitting on. So yes, you really do need a wick tab, and buying preassembled wicks is so much easier than making and threading your own.
This is a great set of 300 wicks for candle makers of any level. It has 300 wicks of different lengths, all with wick tabs. And the wicks are a universal coated cotton.
And don’t forget, if the wicks you buy don’t have wick stickers, you’ll need some of those, too. Yes, you can use a tiny bit of melted wax underneath the wick tabs, but I find the stickers more reliable, particularly if you’re just starting out. This pack of 1080 is great value and is of nice quality, with double-sided heat-resistant stickers.
Why the Correct Candle Wick is So Important
The type of wick you choose has a big influence on how your candle performs. Wick type impacts:
- Burn rate
- Flame size
- Melt pool
- Tunnelling
- Throwing of the scent
- Mushrooming
Types of Wicks for DIY Candles
For DIY candles made from a natural wax, the best option for beginners is HTP wicks, wood wicks, or eco wicks. Below are the key features of each type of wick and what they’re best suited for. But remember that each manufacturer’s product may vary, so always check the description before you buy. There are numerous types, shapes, and core materials, but I’ve chosen to cover the ones you’re most likely to use when just starting out and those best-suited to making natural candles.
High Temperature Paper Wicks (HTP Wicks)
- Coreless flat cotton braided wick with a paper filament woven in to improve rigidity
- Nice even melt pool with most wax types
- Self-trimming and minimal mushrooming
- Best wicks for beginners for any candle type from tealights to large pillars and novelty and container candles.
- Recommended Product: Try these 100 Atkins & Pearce HTP wicks
Flat Braided Cotton Wicks (CD Wicks)
- Contains a woven paper filament to improve rigidity
- Provides a large, consistent flame
- Good choice for candles containing large amounts of scent
- Solid option for softer natural waxes and wax blends with a low melting point
- Good for container and votive candles
- Recommended Product: Try these 100 EricX Light CD wicks
Wood Wicks
- Flat wicks made of softwood or hardwood in one or two-ply
- Softwood produces more crackling sounds as it burns
- If you make candles with a high volume of fragrance in them, only use 2-ply wood wicks
- Best for candles in containers
- Single-ply is good for soy and 2-ply wood wicks are good for any natural wax
- Recommended Product: Try these 50 wooden wicks with iron stands
Coreless Flat Braided Wicks (LX Wicks)
- Fairly rigid flat, braided coreless wicks
- Self-trimming and minimal mushrooming
- Coated in high melting point wax for a slow burn and small, narrow flame
- Reduces risk of tunnelling or of overheating the container
- Good for soy candles and harder natural waxes and for use with container and pillar candles
- Recommended Product: Try these 50 LX wicks
Eco Wicks
- Coreless flat braided cotton wicks with woven paper filaments for rigidity
- Often primed with vegetable oil or another sustainable, eco-friendly natural wax
- Self-trimming and minimal mushrooming
- A top choice for vegan candles using soy and suitable for other natural waxes and wax blends
- Good option for votive candles, container candles, and pillar candles
- Recommended Product: Try these 100 Eco Wicks
How to Choose the Right Fragrances for Candle Making
Now, being a big proponent of being as green and as natural as possible, I never recommend synthetic fragrance oils, and I’ll never use them, either. Similar to paraffin wax, most synthetic fragrance oils contain harmful petroleum by-products, petrochemicals, parabens, and phthalates, among other things, that can have serious health implications. You can find out much more about the significant dangers of fragrance chemicals at Dr. Axe.
So, for my DIY candles, I only ever use natural fragrances – often essential oils. If you go the essential oil route, make sure you use 100% pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils. That way, you can also use them in soaps, household cleaners, diffusers, laundry, and more.
Before you buy, always check the data sheets to make sure your chosen oils are compatible with your chosen wax and what the maximum concentration is.
And, when adding your essential oils, remember that they are super-concentrated, so you’ll only need a few drops. Note that some oils, like woody and spicy scents, hold their scent for longer than other lighter oils like citrus essential oils. And, of course, you can blend oils to create a special, complex, multi-layered fragrance.
If you’re just starting out and want to experiment with different scents and combinations, I strongly recommend this set of 18 therapeutic-grade oils from Natrogix as it has a great variety at a reasonable price point. If you want a smaller selection of common oils, this set of 6 popular oils from Pure Aroma is a good choice – good value and a solid selection of candle-friendly scents.
Supplies for Candle Making
- Best candle making kit for beginners: JIWINNER’s Natural Candle Making Kit with soy wax and essential oils
- Stove
- Double boiler
- Heat-proof containers
- Spatulas/stirrers
- Thermometer
- Wick stickers
- Measuring cups/weighing scales
- Gloves or pot holders
- Dyes: For many of the same reasons as fragrance and wax, we don’t use or recommend any synthetic product. Instead, you can infuse color into your candles naturally using vegetable powders, spices, or plant parts. Take a look at these ready to go, highly concentrated vegetable powders for candles and soaps.
- Candle molds: The choices for candle molds are quite literally endless. Here are a few of our top picks:
- —Hexagon Candle Molds
- —Roman Pillar Candle Molds
- —Sunflower Candle Molds
- —Skull Candle Molds
Learn How to Make Candles Step By Step
So, before you start the actual making, you need to figure out what type of candles you want to make, what wax and wicks you want to use, and get all your supplies.
And don’t forget to cover your candle making surface with newspaper, wipe-clean vinyl, or similar – something you can easily dispose of or that you don’t mind getting covered in wax spots.
Once that’s done, it’s time to start making your DIY candles.
1. Find Out How Much Wax You Need
There’s a trick to working out how much wax you need for making candles, whether you’re using soy, coconut, beeswax, or your own blend. Conveniently, 1 ml of water weighs 1 gram, and then we just need to make a minor adjustment to compensate for the fact that wax is less dense than water. And we do it like this…
Grab the container or candle mold and fill it with water.
Now measure the amount of water and round it up to the nearest 10 mls.
Subtract 20% from the total volume of water (because of the difference in density between wax and water).
The remaining 80% is the number of grams of wax you need for your candle.
2. Wash and Dry Your Containers
Wash and thoroughly dry your candle molds or containers. This reduces the chances of your DIY candles having streaks, discoloration, and unsightly marks.
3. Melt the Wax
Get your double boiler (I’m not terribly fancy, so my double boiler is a saucepan of hot water with a bowl placed over the top (but not touching the water) and fill it 1/3-1/2 with boiling water.
Put the double boiler on the stove over medium heat and then add your wax to the bowl.
Leave the wax to melt, monitoring the temp using the thermometer, until it reaches the appropriate temperature for the wax type. For example, soy needs to reach 169-180 degrees Fahrenheit (50-60 degrees Celsius), while vegetable waxes need to be heated to (116.6 to 120.2 degrees Fahrenheit (47 to 49 degrees Celsius).
4. Add the Wick
Use the wick stickers to adhere the wick tabs to the bottom of your candle containers.
To keep the wick upright and central when you pour the wax, attach the top of the wick to a pencil, chopstick, or small dowel (either wrap the wick around or use a small piece of Blutack) and lay the stick across the top of your container.
5. Add Dye and Scent
Now go back to your wax. If you’re infusing plant matter or spices to get natural color, you need to place the plant matter in some cheesecloth, a coffee filter, or something else that you can dispose of. Tie the top tightly then add it to the melted wax. You’ll need to keep the wax at a consistent temperature and leave it to infuse for at least 6 hours. Some plant matter requires up to 24 hours to properly infuse.
If you’re using other natural dyes that don’t require from-scratch infusion, add them to the hot wax along with whatever essential oils you chose.
Stir gently but thoroughly to make sure the color and the scent permeate the wax evenly and consistently without creating air pockets.
6. Pour the Wax
Take your wax and pour it carefully into the waiting candle containers or molds. Wipe up any excess wax that runs down the sides while it’s still liquid.
Make sure you leave some space at the top – you’ll most likely need that space later on.
7. Monitor and Refill
After about 30 minutes, take a look at your candles (without moving them) to see if you’ve got any signs of tunnelling, pitting, or sinkage. If you have, reheat the remaining wax and use it to top off the candle, refilling the holes and topping up the container.
Now leave it for around 24 hours to set.
8. Trim the Wick
Once the candle is set, you can remove the stick holding your wick in place and trim it to about 5mm above your candle.
9. Let it Cure
Now, you’ve probably seen in other candle tutorials that once the candle is set, you can just start burning it or gifting it. And it’s true, you can. But you shouldn’t. If you want your candle to reach its full scent potential and to burn for the longest possible time, you need to cure it.
Which is super easy. Homemade candles, particularly those that are made of natural waxes, need to cure for around 2 weeks in an ideal world. This lets the wax fully harden and return to its original melting point.
And it lets the scent develop fully. When you’re making a scented candle, the scent is one of the key things that you want to stand out. So letting the candle cure ensures that the scent is stronger and throws better when the candle eventually burns.
After curing, you can absolutely enjoy your candle or gift it.
10 Best DIY Candle Making Ideas
If you want to learn how to make DIY candles but want a guided recipe, we've got some of the best homemade candle ideas for you to try. For the few of these creative candle making ideas that use synthetic ingredients, simply switch them for the natural options I've given you above. The only real difference that you'll notice is that the colors may be a little more pastelesque.
This is a great homemade candle idea for beginners. It features beeswax and wooden wicks and uses essential oils for scents, so this candle making tutorial is a brilliant place to start for those looking to make natural and eco-friendly candles. Plus, to add even more candle craft ideas, this tutorial shows you how to make custom candle holder designs with a Cricut. (As an aside, I adore my Cricut!)
One of the more creative candle making ideas I've seen in a while, the concrete candle is definitely different! Using rapid cement and some kids plastic balls, this tutorial walks you through how to make a concrete candle container and candle.
Sand candles were all the rage during the 70s, but the artform was almost lost. Thankfully, this tutorial shares the marker's experience of attending a sand candle making class and the process she witnessed. It's an interesting read and there's a fab video from a professional candlemaker fusing sand and wax to create the candle holder.
Another of my favorite DIY candle ideas, this handmade candle features soy wax and fresh lavender and mint for a refreshing, soothing scent. Ellen's easy to follow guide to making soy candles takes you through the process step by step and offers lots of helpful tips.
Making a mason jar candle is fun, easy, and smart. And this tutorial does also features decorating ideas for the jar. Ylang Ylang is the chosen essential oil (not fragrance oil) for scent here, which is rich, floral, and sweet. It's prized for its relaxation and aphrodisiacal properties.
These pretty lavender candles from Amanda feature fresh lavender sprigs. However, because fresh herbs in the wax can be a fire hazard, this clever tutorial uses two mason jars, and the lavender springs sit between the two jars, away from the wax and the flame. The lavender scent comes from the inclusion of lavender essential oil.
This is a lovely, easy scented candle DIY tutorial that's great for beginners. The pretty candles that you get from this how-to make nice gifts. And, if you cure them, they'll throw their scent well. Just be aware that they use food coloring as a dye, and you can't use water-based food colorant with candles because they won't mix. However, you can use paste, gel, or powdered food coloring.
Learn how to make citronella candles with organic ingredients to keep mosquitoes and other flying pests away! They are super easy to make and are an effective natural mosquito repellent. Citronella essential oil, soy wax, and a wick is all you need.
A nice simple tutorial for homemade soy candles. You can add your own essential oils to this one and, if you want to go all-natural, switch out the synthetic dye for a vegetable powder.
This DIY wax candle is super cute! If, like me, you love love love coffee, this is the candle for you. And it uses a simple coffee cup or espresso cup that you can easily find at thrift stores. Cute, cheap, and easy - what more could you want in a DIY candle project? These look like they'll make fab gifts, too. The only changes I suggest you make are using a natural colorant and coffee essential oil instead of the dreaded fragrance oil.
Hi this is Palesa in South Africa I am starting a scented candle making business and I have done a lot of research on YT and Pinterest, I am still trying to figure out the measurements for the oils(apparently I must pour 1 tablespoon of oil in 1kg of wax) what I don’t get is, is it 1kg hard wax or 1kg melted wax, and if the essentials oils are for soy wax your help will be highly appreciated?
Hi Palesa, good luck with your candle making business! 🙂
You measure the wax while it’s hard. And yes, you can use therapeutic grade essential oils with soy wax. Let me know if you’ve got any more questions! 🙂