Homemade Candles!

There's something really romantic about dining and doing homework by candlelight that makes doing everyday tasks feel a little more luxurious. Unfortunately, candles can be really expensive. 

But what if I told you, there was a way, you could make your own, while saving your self nearly $25-$112 every time you wanted to buy them. Would that make it better? -I think so :)

The Thing About Chapstick: The best thing about this candle recipe is that you don't necessarily need chapstick to make it work, but they add such nice color and scents to the candles any way, that its a really good way to use them up.

Savings!

• Pier 1: Jar Candles ~ $18.95 each
• Walmart: Jar Candles ~  $4.49 each
• This DIY Recipe: Jar Candles ~ $1.99 for 6 of them

Note: In order to make 6 candles about half the size of a bell Jar, I shaved a large $1.99 one from goodwill. Since I already had some old pasta jars, and yarn, I didn't calculate that into the total cost. This means each homemade candle cost about 33 cents. 

Materials:

• 1 Large Pillar Candle - $1.99
• Yarn
• Parchment Paper
• 6 Glass Jars
• Large Glass Bread Pan
• Stir Frying Pan
• Knife
• Thick wooden cutting board/cookie sheet that's safe for hot surfaces
• Oven Mitts

 Optional Ingredients: Good for adding Scents & Color

• 1-10 Tubes of Old Chapstick
• Boiled water with Lemon/Orange Peels in it

Steps: 
1. Start shaving the wax off your pillar candle into the Glass Bread Pan, until there is no more huge chunks of wax left

2. Take your knife and shave off the left over wax from any tea lights or wax that's left over in the bottom of your old candle jars- and put the shavings into the Glass Bread Pan

3. Then turn the bottom of each chap-stick tube, until the entire inside of the chap-stick tube is visible and then drop the gooey part of the chapstick into the glass bread pan too. 

2. Fill the frying pan half way with water and place the glass bread pan into the middle of the frying pan. 

DIY Science! By using the boiling water on the outside of the glass pan, it uses two forms of heat transfer called "convection" and "conduction" to make these candles. This melts the shaved wax inside the bread pan into a hot liquid wax mixture that you can use to make your candle wicks and to pour into your jars as the base for your candles too.

3. After all of the wax is melted, find the yarn and cut it into 6, 12-16 inch long pieces. These will be the base for your candle wicks.  

4. Place your parchment paper on a thick cutting board/pan and then dip each piece of pre-cut yarn into the melted wax. After you've dipped the yarn in hot wax, place it onto the parchment paper, to cool off and dry. 

5. After each piece of wax-coated yarn has officially cooled down, take out your jars and place them on to the thick cutting board too. 

6. Use a pair of oven mitts to pick up the glass bread pan and to pour the remaining hot wax in all 6 of your jars about halfway with the mixture

7. Take your handmade candle wicks and place each one into each jar, and bend the top part of the wick over the side of your jars, to make sure it doesn't slide back inside them, when they come into contact with the hot wax. 

8.Let the jars cool down for a bit, and then place them in the refrigerator overnight to cool and solidify even more. 

Then take them out, 
Light them on Fire
and Enjoy!