For a long time people looked at the fire and felt safe. Many centuries have passed, but even now, when looking at the hearth, the same feeling arises. But today we do not sit by the fires, they are replaced by wax candles. They add intimacy to any space, and the smooth wavering of the flame fascinates people, just as it did hundreds of thousands of years ago.
In these days, when there are many different materials, it is possible to make wax candles with your own hands at home, creating your own masterpieces. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.
Materials needed to make paraffin candles
You will need:
- cotton threads;
- wax crayons;
- regular candles.
These materials are inexpensive and readily available.
Auxiliary materials for candle production
You will also need:
- old saucepan;
- capacity where the wax will melt;
- two plastic or wooden sticks to stir the wax and fixwick;
- molds for making candles, it can be children's toys or plastic cups;
- decorative embellishments for future creations.
In this case, you can select materials as you wish.
Nuances in choosing a wick
Any candles: church, wax, gel, paraffin - have a wick. It must be made from 100% cotton. It can be a ribbon of fabric or a rope. The main thing is that there are no synthetics in the composition. Multi-colored floss thread wicks look especially good on transparent candles.
For each candle, the wick is selected individually. Its stiffness and thickness depend on the part of the candle that will have to burn through. Also from her material. For wax candles, it is worth making thick wicks, the threads of which are not woven very tightly. For paraffin or gel, on the contrary, you need to tightly twist thin threads. Such a wick will not smoke when burning. It must be remembered that if wax crayons are used for coloring, their shavings may not dissolve in the candle material and clog the wick.
In a word, there are many nuances that can only be understood in practice. If the wick is thick, then the wax candles will smoke and burn out too quickly. And very thin ones will often go out. In general, you need to try and experiment.
The wick can be twisted (like a rope), braided or crocheted. Immediately before pouring, it is better to soak the threads with wax, but many believe that this is useless and simple.fill them with wax, paraffin or gel.
The principle of creating a candle
To make wax candles with your own hands, you need to find the right shape. You can use any plastic cups, children's toys, that is, anything where you can pour paraffin. However, this container must withstand a temperature of 100 °. For the first time, it is better to take a simple form in order to understand the principle of creating a candle.
A knot is tied at the end of the cotton string. After that, a hole is made at the bottom of the mold in the center. This cotton wick is inserted into it so that its knot is outside. He will subsequently be the top of the candle, and will also prevent wax or paraffin from flowing out of the mold when it is created. Next, you need to fix the second end of the wick, which will be at the bottom of the finished product. It should be in the middle of the form. To do this, take any stick, you can take a toothpick or a match. It is placed across the form, and the second end of the wick is tied to its center. It needs to be centered and tight. After everything is fixed, you can start creating a candle.
We need material to fill out the form. Therefore, they take church candles, wax, paraffin, in general, everything that is available. It is better to chop them finely to make shavings. It is folded into a tin can and placed in a water bath. That is, a pot of water is taken, put on fire, and after it boils, a container with material for a candle is immersed there. It becomes liquid under the influence of temperature, and then you canpour it into a candle mold. In the process, you can use any container, the main thing is not glass.
Materials for coloring candles
To make the product the desired color, for example, you want to get wax green candles, red, blue, or even multi-colored, then you need to add a dye to the composition. The most widely used material for this is children's wax crayons. In general, you can use any fat-soluble dye. If you take gouache or watercolor, they will not work, because they will not be able to dissolve in the material, and will simply float in pieces, and subsequently settle on the bottom.
Some masters use lipstick and shadows to color their masterpieces. However, in the process of burning a candle, lipstick emits a smell. If it is pleasant, then this is a great option not only in terms of color, but also in terms of aromatic effect.
Special candle dyes are also sold, where there are many colors and shades. Using them, you can make both snow-white and black candles (wax or paraffin). By adding them in various proportions, you will achieve both delicate pastel tones and bright saturated colors.
Filling material into shape
If everything is ready, we proceed to the main stage. The form is lubricated from the inside with vegetable oil or a liquid that is used when washing dishes. This is necessary so that the frozen candle is easier to remove. First, a little material is poured to the bottom to close the hole with the wick. After all, ifimmediately fill the entire space, then the wax or paraffin will flow strongly. And this is inconvenient, and it will take much more time.
After the bottom has hardened, pour the rest of the wax or paraffin until the entire container is filled. When it's ready, wait for the wax to cool at room temperature. In this way, the wax candles will cool gradually and evenly. If you try to speed up the process and immerse the product in the freezer, the surface of the candle may crack, which will ruin its appearance.
Removing the candle from the mold
You need to untie the knot on the wick, where the top of the product will be, then pull it from the other side. The candle should come off. If the product does not come out, there are two solutions: the first is to cut the mold, the second is to put everything in the freezer for two minutes. After that, the candle is immediately doused with hot water. Due to the sharp temperature difference, it can be easily removed.
After that, the wick is shortened to the required size, and the seams that remain from the mold must be doused with hot water - then they will disappear. However, the product loses its original luster. Therefore, when you create wax candles, molds should be selected without seams, so that later there will be no problems with their elimination.
Scented candles
They are made in the same way as wax ones, but with the addition of essential oils. When burned, they will fill the room with a pleasant aroma. You can use any essential oil, but not rose. It gives off a pungent odor when burned. Add to liquid waxthe necessary flavoring, then mix everything thoroughly. After everything becomes homogeneous, the wax is poured into the mold. Further actions are identical to the above.
Homemade wax candles burn and look very beautiful. However, you can make such accessories completely transparent, as if it were water. They are made from a gel that is specially prepared for this.
Gel candles
To create such a lovely miracle, you can buy gel wax in the store. But if you wish, it is easy to make it at home. For this you will need:
- water;
- tannin;
- glycerin;
- gelatin.
Take 5 parts of gelatin (necessarily colorless) and dissolve it in 20 parts of water. After that, you need to add 25 parts of glycerin and mix everything thoroughly, after which a transparent essence will begin to appear. 2 parts of tannin are added to it, which are previously dissolved in 10 parts of glycerin. Immediately after the connection, a dirty precipitate is formed, which disappears when boiled. After creating a transparent mixture, it is poured into a mold, like regular wax candles, the manufacture of which we discussed above.
The appearance of such candles can be made even more spectacular by adding dyes to them. Thus, they can be given gentle tones of any color. Or you can pour different colors into the uncured mixture to get fancy abstractions.
