Can you think of a timeless object that still gets used by your ancestors to this day?
One fantastic object that still proves helpful is candles. No matter how much electricity there is, homemade candles can help enhance the atmosphere in your home, office, spa, or salon. Simply having your own candles can light up any environment or even make you relax and unwind after a long day.
While you can find many scented candles to purchase on the market, one of the best ways of enjoying them instead of buying them is by making your own candles.
The thing is, you don't want to go about candle making without conducting research first. Because if you just make any candle, you could cause a lot of damage to your heart and lungs.
Plus, if the candles contain synthetic fragrances like petroleum or paraffin wax, they could contain carcinogens, which can increase your risk of certain cancers and organ damage when breathed in.
Therefore, if you plan on making candles, you will want only to use essential oils/aromatherapy candles as they're less dangerous to have in your home or workspace.
Keep reading to know how to make the best DIY essential oil candles.
How to make aromatherapy candles
There's nothing more relaxing and wholesome knowing that candles with essential oils are natural and affordable to make. For the essential oil candle to be of high quality and have a good fragrance, you really need to consider the brand of the fragrance oil and its purity. To help make sure you have the best scented candles, try and consider the following:
Choose a slow-burning wax for your scented candles
Many candle wax has different smells, and all of them carry their scents differently. Plus, as essential oils have natural scents and are less stronger than standard candles, you must pick a wax that helps keep the scent intact a lot longer and burns slowly into the air.
Out of all the lovely candles that exist, the last one that you'll want to use is one that has paraffin wax; even though these candles are affordable, they burn quickly, and there's no candle scent to them.
So, what candle wax do you use? Well, one hot wax that is particularly beneficial is soy wax. This wax takes a lot longer to burn than paraffin wax, causing soy candles to last longer. In addition to this, the natural soy wax also clings on to natural scents for a longer duration and releases them slowly, making your room smell better for longer.
Choose a natural wick
While soy wax burns for a long period, it does not give off many scents on its own. For this to happen, you will need a hot burning wick. When selecting a wick, you should avoid choosing non-natural ones without a metal center and those that aren't coated in paraffin.
Simply limiting the metals and paraffin from your wick can help your lungs. Try and opt for a hemp wick as they burn more oil than cotton. On the contrary, if you're limited on money, you can buy any wick and add oil later on.
Select potent essential oils
When making DIY candles, you will want to choose the best essential oils. When we say the best, you will want to pick essential oils with strong potency.
While it's all good choosing pure essential oils like sandalwood, ylang ylang, etc., but they're not ideal for when your candle burns. These essential oils tend not to stick to the candle, and their fragrance disperses quickly.
Therefore you will want to pick an essential oil with a potent and strong scent that can last for the entire duration of the burning candle.
For a homemade candle, some good essential oils to consider are:
- Rosemary
- Eucalyptus
- Sweet orange
- Pine
- Cinnamon
The scents of these essential oils do not produce the typical floral notes, but they do provide a nice smell when you light them. If you want to add more flavor, you might want to add several essential oils to make sure the smell on your candles lasts longer.
How much essential oil?
Sometimes when you're undergoing essential oil candle making, you'll find that there isn't enough essential oil in the candle to make them have an obvious scent. Therefore don't be shy when it comes to adding oils; in fact, you'll want to add more, and on average, you should aim to add:
2 teaspoons of oil for every 4 ounces of liquid wax.
This will allow the essential oils to be diluted by 6% and allow for the optimal level to make scented candles. But you don't have to limit yourself to this; you can add more oil to make it stronger if you want. Plus, depending on the size of your candle container, you may want to add more teaspoons of essential oil. It's basically just a mix and match process until you get the ratio right.
Pour in the essential oils at the same time
When making homemade candles, you will want to ensure you have the right timing to add in the essential oils. For instance, if you look at them before the wax cools, the oil's active compounds can be damaged, and the scent can be dampened. On the contrary, if the wax hardens or is too cool, it might stop the oils from spreading properly through the wax.
So, what's the right temperature to add oils?
If you're planning on optimizing the natural scents, you will want to add oils at a temperature of 185 degrees F. Then, add the wax to a double boiler and melt it slowly over a low temperature. Once it's fully melted, remove the wax and place it on the counter until it's 185 degrees; use a thermometer to track this.
Once the melted wax reaches that temperature, add drops of essential oils and carefully pour the wax into glass containers. Following this, you can add more of your favorite essential oils or let the candles cool down before you light them.
Stop the sent from dispersing
Cover it tightly using a lid once your candle has been set so the scent does not escape. If you need more fragrance oils, melt the candle and add more. The best way to do this is by placing the essential oil candle in the freezer so the wax pops out of the glass jar.
Once done, place the whole chunk of wax, including the wick, into a double boiler and melt it down. Then, remove the wick, add the essential oils and place it into the container.
What are the best DIY essential oil candles?
You can't always create the best DIY candle when candle making, but you can use the right essential oils to make them smell delightful. In addition to smell, you must select essential oils based on the atmosphere you want to create in the room where the candles are in. We will break it down into three areas that essential oils can mainly fall under to give you an idea.
Essential oils for energy and concentration
When candle making, you might want to include essential oils that primarily have a strong effect on helping your energy levels and concentration. After all, there's nothing like feeling rejuvenated after a rigorous few hours of housework or a tiring day at work. To help make you more alert, you might wish to consider adding the following essential oils.
- Citrus scents: Orange, lemon, or grapefruit can allow you to feel fresh and awake.
- Mint scent: Peppermint and spearmint essential oils might make you more alert. There's also been research conducted in 2016 showing spearmint in combination with rosemary can help increase learning and memory in animals. In addition, it's also believed that it can help boost your lung capacity and open your airways.
- Eucalyptus essential oil
- Ylang ylang and sandal wood essential oil is also known to help increase mental alertness and allow you to feel calmer.
Essential oils to enhance mood
When candle making, you might want to specifically select fragrance oils that can help uplift your mood. Some essential oils that might help you achieve this are:
- Sweet orange
- Patchouli
- Frankincense
Pure essential oils for relaxation
Do you want to have essential oil candles for relaxation purposes, i.e., when you have a bath? If so, then you should definitely think about adding lavender essential oil to your candles. Multiple scientific studies support this essential oil, showing that it can help you become calmer and have a better night's sleep.
Another interesting essential oil you might wish to try is Bergamot. This essential oil produces a citrus scent that can help physiological symptoms like lowering your blood pressure and heart rate and reducing the likelihood of anxiety attacks.
In addition to this, if you're looking to become more calm and relaxed but want a strong scent from each essential oil, you should try considering lemongrass, geranium, patchouli, and vetiver.
Essential oil candles for festive season
Candles with essential oils can make the perfect gift for the winter season, thanksgiving, or Christmas time; they're actually friendly on the bank balance too. Therefore you might want to add drops of essential oils that provide you with a winter fragrance like cinnamon, vanilla, and cedarwood.
How to turn your DIY candles into good gifts
If you're looking for Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, or general gifts, then DIY essential oil candles are a fantastic present for both genders and people of all sorts of ages. In addition to candle making, you must spend your time presenting the candle well.
If you're planning on making them, try adding the wax directly into a glass jar, mason jar, or glass votives to make them that bit more attractive.
If you struggle to get mason jars, you might want to buy a standard set of containers to pour the wax into. Moreover, if you want to make them more appealing, you could add a ribbon or plate to set the candles on.
Recipe summary for DIY candles
Overall essential oil candles are easy and fun to make. If you're planning on undergoing candle making, then do note that some essential oil candles can take on average around 15 minutes to prepare and 3 hours to solidify fully. To help you make the best soy wax candles, you'll want to get the following ingredients:
Candle making supplies
- One mason jar (several mason jars if you plan on making in bulk) or 4-ounce metal container
- Candle wicks- you can use a cotton wick, but hemp will most likely help the scent stick better to the soy wax candles.
- 2 x cups of soy wax flakes (you may need to add more if you have several mason jars)
- Old aluminum can store wax melts.
- 2 teaspoons of essential oils of your preference
- A thermometer
- Chopsticks to help fit the wick
Method for essential oil candle making
- Using a glass measuring cup, add the soy wax flakes to the old aluminum can, do this slowly. Do note if it does not fit, use the glass measuring cup to fill slowly, and once it turns into liquid wax, add more.
- Next, get a saucepan and fill it at the midpoint with warm water. Following this, put the soy wax in the center and let the water simmer. Turn off the simmer setting once it's turned into melted soy wax.
- Then, remove the can and put your thermometer in the hot melted wax. You will want to check the temperature every few minutes until the soy wax cools down to 185 degrees. Note that the figures don't have to be precisely this; they can be a few degrees lower or higher.
- Once done, add your essential and other oils to the wax and stir, so it mixes well into the soy wax candles.
- Now get the wick and put it in the center of the glass jar for your DIY candles. You might want to use your chopsticks or a clothespin to help keep it in position.
- Finally, pour the candle wax into the container and let it cool overnight before lighting it.
Conclusion
Overall, DIY candles are all-time perfect present for Christmas, birthdays, and other festive seasons. They're even great to put in your home or workspace. By making soy candles, you will save money compared to buying ones you get in the store.
The ones you find in the stores often contain harmful chemicals like paraffin wax, which can be highly dangerous to your lungs and airways. On the contrary, DIY candles can lose scents quicker than synthetic ones; therefore, you'll want to choose essential oils like rosemary, sandalwood, ylang-ylang, and more to help the smell stay around for longer.
When making DIY candles, you also have the power to choose essential oils to suit states of being such as being relaxed, more focused, happier, and less fatigued.
Ultimately, these candles are fun to make and lovely to look at. If you're interested in making one, we stock candle-making ingredients like mason jars, wicks, and more candle-related products at Body and Earth. Simply have a browse today to start making your own candles that can help uplift the atmosphere around you.
