MyOwnCreation | Handmade Crafts Blog

How to make handmade candles in your own home

SysAdmin — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:08:00 +0000

Working with wax as a hobby can be fun and profitable, as they can make beautiful, yet inexpensive gifts at anytime of year. Candle making is not difficult for a beginner to learn as it only requires little creativity and some spare time. No great skill is required either as one of the great things with this craft is that you can always re-melt the wax down and start over again.

Making handmade candles can be fun and, when you have developed the skill a little, you can make some spare cash. Always handy! This is undoubtedly one of the best hobbies for making some spare cash as it already has that magic marketing ingredient - IT'S A CONSUMABLE!

MyOwnCreation has carried out some research on search terms that people use to find the website (http://www.myowncreation.co.uk) using our stats engine and we find that handmade candles and candles always feature highly. It may appear odd then that only a handful of crafters actually submit their work for display. We would encourage any candlemaker to take advantage of this trend and list some of there work. Don't forget that handmade candles and wax products (and soap for that matter) are not seasonal and can be used as a gift at any time of year.

Learn how to make scented candles at home, with the instructions given below.

How To Make Scented Candles At Home

Materials Required

Any Form of Wax
Candle Color (Crayons do not burn well)
Bowls to Give Your Candles Cold Water Baths
Candle/Candy/Meat Thermometer
Kitchen Stove for Heating
Large Coffee Can to Melt the Wax in
Plain Paraffin Wax
Pot that can accommodate the Coffee Can when it is half full of Water
Pure Fragrance Oil or Concentrated Scents (without Water or Alcohol Base)
Wick of Right Size (1/2" wick for 1/2" candle, 1" wick for 1" candle and so on)
Wooden Spoon for Stirring

Method

Cut wax into small pieces so that it melts quickly.
Heat the water on medium temperature until it comes to a gentle boil.
Place the wax in the coffee can and place it into the water. Never place wax directly on heat source or it will catch fire.
Keep stirring the wax until it reaches 160 F and melts completely. Use the thermometer for correct temperature.
Turn down the heat to keep water warm and wax melted.
Add the color to the candles, little by little, until you get the desired shade.
Wax color lightens up a little after wax cools down so you may check by letting a spoonful of wax cool to see the correct shade.
Add fragrance oil or scent until you get the desired strength of smell. However, more oil may mean difficulty in burning the candles alter.
Keep stirring and keep the wax melted at the temperature of 160 F until everything is well blended.
You can make two candles at once. Take wick that is double the length of the candle that you want plus three inches to hold.
Fold the wick in the center by doubling it over your finger and start dipping it in the melted wax.
Dip the wick in wax for a few seconds and then let it cool for a minute and repeat the dipping.
Do not let wet candles touch each other.
After a few layers, you may speed up the cooling process by dipping the candle in wax and then in cool water bowl.
When the candles, reach the desired thickness, roll them on smooth surface to remove the lumps.
Heat up the wax to the temperature of 182 F and dip the candles once more for a few seconds and let them cool.
Trim the bottom of the candle with a sharp knife to give it a straight edge
Hang up the candles to dry from the wick.
When the candles are completely dry, cut the wick in between them to separate the candles.
Kids require adult supervision to try this one out.

If you have any tips or crafting tricks you would like to share then please select SUBMIT AN ARTICLE on the top menu.

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Art and Craft Blog Content and Articles - WANTED!

SysAdmin — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:18:00 +0000

We are seriously looking for news and comment to add to this blog to make it more interesting for the general crafting community. Our aim is to make this a serious hub for all manner of content that will be of interest to artists and crafters. This is a serious opportunity to get your ideas and comments to a much wider audience.

There are 4 ways this can be done:

1. Tell us about your RSS feed and where to find it. Once approved, the headlines will be displayed on the sidebar of the MyOwnCreation Blog with a direct link to the article on your own site.

2. Email your article directly to us. The number of people who will be able to do this will be limited but those who do make it onto the site will have their article featured on the main page and will include photographs etc. A submission form is in development and should be available before Christmas via the MyOwnCreation website.

3. Send us an XML file for direct import into the site. Again, these articles/posts will appear on the main page of the site. The XML file will need to be in a specific format so anyone interested in this type of listing must contact us first.

4. We saved the best 'til last. Staight forward log in and create your own posts. We like this one and want as many of you to get involved as possible.

Our articles are widely published on all manner of feeders as well as Facebook and Twitter. You can be sure that once approved, anything you say or display will certainly reach a wide audience.

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SysAdmin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:34:00 +0000

If you run or are attending a Craft Fair or show over the Christmas period then a free listing in the MyOwnCreation Craft Fair Diary is a must.

This is a great asset which does not really get the attention is deserves. Listing is very quick and free. It's provided as a little extra service to all our members and anyone else for that matter. So you don't even need to be a member!

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SysAdmin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:36:00 +0100

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You can list any event you like as long as its to do with arts, crafts or handmade. Every entry in the diary gets picked up by search engines like Google and individually listed. This can be a great boost to any event. Better than your own website! Just visit: http://www.myowncreation.co.uk/craftfairdiary to find out more.

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SysAdmin — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:43:00 +0100

We have just had a report that someone is having trouble buying MyOwnCreation credits. Obviously, this is the basis of all activity on the MyOwnCreation website so is potentially a very serious problem!

From what we gather the system works fine up to the point when the user contacts PayPal. It appears to take quite a while which results in a message from PayPal to the effect that the user has landed on a perticular page and should re-try. As far as we can tell it's not down to our old friend (foe) FireFox! Much more likely to be the speed of connection.

At any rate, we have created a shortcut for those who need it:...... On the page where you would select the number of credits you want, take a look at the bottom of the page, under the logos. You will see 'Buy 250 credits'. Click on that to be taken to PayPal by a slightly different route. We don't know why but this appears to work (it's the old system!).

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SysAdmin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:47:00 +0000

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There doesn't appear to be any logic to it but, yes, people do! Don't worry though, as soon as we find them we remove the items from the syste. Unfortunately though, we can't inform the member we have done so.............. because we can't contact them.

Does anyone know why members should want to do this?

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Start blogging.... We'll see how it goes!

SysAdmin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:36:00 +0000

Hello everyone. We think we have a handle on this thing now so start blogging. You will nee to register yourself again as this is a separate site to the main system.

If you have any questions or problems then why not air them here. Chances are that others have the same issues. We may not be quick to answer but we will do our best to answer everything in a day or so.

If you have any great ideas or crafts you want to show off, let's see them on the CRAFTING pages.

This is a developing blog so we'll adapt as it grows.