How to Make Eco-Friendly Christmas Candles

Making your own soy aromatherapy candles is a fun, eco-friendly way to spend an afternoon. You play with wax, scent and colour for a while, and voila! You have beautiful eco-friendly Christmas candles! You can keep some for yourself, and give the rest to friends and family as a Xmas present.

Ingredients

Soy candles have been emerging as a viable alternative to the standard wax choices. Soy candles are made out of 100% natural soy wax without any additives. Candles made of soy wax will have a wonderful aroma without having to add any type of fragrance. Experienced soy candle makers can mix the soy wax in several ways that will give the natural scent a bit of a difference thus giving the scent a fainter or more powerful aroma.

Beeswax is another popular candle making wax. While it may be a little more expensive, it offers many wonder benefits. It has a natural sweet aroma, a beautiful natural colour, and burns, brighter, longer and cleaner than many other candles. When a beeswax candle is burning it fills the room with a gentle, fragrant honey odour while removing airborne irritants such as dust, pollen and moulds.

To make candles you need wicks. Candle wicks come in many materials and can be purchased with tabs on the end so they are easier to use when making candles. When buying a wick you need something that will burn cleanly. Many people prefer cotton or hemp wicks. Others say that the wick material is dependent on the type of wax you will be using.

The last item needed to make candles is a candle holder. After you have the wax, wick and candle holder, you have all the essentials of the basic candle recipe.

So let’s get started. Here is a 5-steps guide of how to make Christmas candles.

1. First, heat the wax until melted. Beeswax needs to be melted in a double double-saucepan.
2. Let the wax cool to about 140F, then add your essential oil blend of your choice. Best Christmas Essences are cinnamon, orange and pine. Stir to blend in the oils.
3. Now Pour the wax into your chosen containers – use heat-prove containers like glass ones. It’s better to pre-heat the containers a bit in the oven.
4. Slowly pour the wax into your containers. Try not to splash – you want a slow, even pour to avoid creating air pockets. Leave to cool.
5. Trim the wick to 1/4″ (0.5cm.)

Here we go – you’ve done your perfect Christmas scented candles. And which is most important – they are eco-friendly.