How to Make Jar Candles at Home

Candles are a simple and easy gift for people who have everything. They have a universal appeal to men and women of all ages (including teenagers) and have therefore become an easy gift for anyone on your gift list who doesn't need anything.

Store-bought jar candles can be very expensive. If you've ever browsed through the candle section of Cracker Barrel or visited the Yankee Candle Company, you know that the candles can range in price from reasonable to very expensive.

While these candles are high quality, with the right tools you can produce high quality homemade candles in your kitchen at a fraction of the cost required to purchase these candles from the store. You won't have the name brand, but you'll have the appreciation of your gift recipients because you went to the trouble to personalize a gift just for them.

If you're a crafty person, the answer to why you should make your candles at home is probably pretty obvious: Because it's fun! But if you don't enjoy crafts and you find it easier to simply purchase your candles at the store (regardless of the cost) remember that anything home made can be made with personalization in mind.

Most people love getting home made gifts because of the love put into them, but if you think that's a ridiculous reason to put the effort into a homemade gift, here's an even better reason: You can make the gift match the personality and preferences of the person you're giving it to.

Candles are an amazing example of this. You can give your daughter a black candle that's scented of roses, or a blue candle that smells like cherries. You can give your husband a manly brown candle that smells of fresh linen to make his area at work smell fresh all the time. You can mix scents with colors that don't usually go with them, layer your candles, give them colors (or not!) and make them various shapes depending on the recipient (and your molds).

Everybody loves a personalized gift.

Making homemade jar candles isn't difficult at all! The process is actually quite simple and even the most novice crafters should be able to accomplish this task.

It shouldn't take you very long to learn how to make the candles or to produce them, making this a great project for beginning crafters who wish to produce wonderful gifts for their friends and family. You'll find instructions on this page as well as access to purchase everything you need to make your candles.

The first step to making your container candles is to melt your wax. You will want to purchase a specific type of wax for container candles, so be careful what you buy. The recommended wax is listed to the right so that you can purchase that on Amazon to use with your jar candle crafts.

You'll have several options for melting your wax and different tutorials will give you different ways of doing this. If you follow Alton Brown, a double-boiler is a multi-tasking tool that can be used for various tasks whereas a wax melter serves a singular purpose.

If you prefer the wax melter, however, you can find one above at a very reasonable price and with great ratings on Amazon.

The wax to the right is the wax you'll want to purchase for this task.

While your max is melting, you should prepare your containers for pouring the hot wax into them. You'll need to place the wicks into your jars (or other containers) so that the person getting your gift has some way of burning the candle that you've made for them.

The recommended wicks are 6 inches long (they do come in longer lengths though for pillar jars) and have the sustainers already attached to the wicks so that you won't have to attach them manually.

These wicks have already been waxed for you, so they do not need to be dipped into your heated wax. If you choose to purchase a length of wick and crimp your own sustainers (as illustrated in the video at the end of his page) then you'll need to dip your wicks yourself.

When preparing your containers, you'll need to keep the wick centered in the jar. You have several options for doing this, including wick rods and candle tack, or using a wick centering device such as the one recommended to the right. Whichever device you choose, you'll want to make sure that you've held your wick centered before pouring your candle wax.

Some tutorials recommend the use of a clothespin (clothes peg) to hold the wick in place.This isn't something I've tried but it may be useful for those looking for something around the house that can be used for this purpose. If you try it, make sure to leave a comment to tell everyone how it works!

This is part of Step 2.

The next thing you'll want to do is to check the temperature of your candle wax. You should be able to use a standard cooking thermometer for this. A decent thermometer is recommended to the right, but you probably already have one of these in your home kitchen. If not, consider purchasing one from the grocery store for a lower cost.

Varying sites give different information on the temperature of your wax. It will melt as low as 120° F, but higher temperatures are required in order to make the most of your fragrance oils. You may need to experiment with this a bit, but most tutorials seem to agree that the magic temperature for adding fragrance that is effective is between 180° and 190° F.

If you're going to color your candles, this is the time to add the dye to your wax. Make sure that you've poured your wax into a pitcher (if necessary -- it shouldn't be if you've used a wax melter that employs the pitcher to melt the wax, but if you've used a double-boiler or a wax melting pot, you'll need to pour your wax into a pitcher. See below) before adding the dyle.

Dye comes in two forms: Liquid and Chips. A chip sample pack is listed to the right, giving you a number of colors at a single price.

The key to adding color to your wax is to take it slow. Your color will look darker when it's liquid but it will be lighter once the wax has dried, so you want to be careful about how you add your color. Once you've mixed it, drip some of the melted wax onto a cloth or paper towel and wait for it to dry so that you can view the color and add more if you wish. Remember that you can't take dye out, so go slow!

Before you add the fragrance to your wax, you'll want to pour it into a wax pitcher. You will find a link to a suitable wax pouring pitcher listed above. If you're wondering why you should use the pitcher instead of pouring directly from the melting pot into the container, there are two reasons.

1. You'll get a much more precise pour with the pouring spout on your pouring pitcher.
2. Adding the fragrance to the pouring pitcher makes for easier cleanup than the melting pot.

(This won't be necessary with some methods as you will have melted your wax in the pitcher in the first place. In this case, simply ignore this step, as there is no need to pour your wax from one container into another at this point unless you've used a double-boiler or a wax melter).

As stated above, the fragrance should be added to your candle wax somewhere between 180° and 190° F. Use a high quality candle making fragrance for the best results. You want the candle to have a strong scent when burned (otherwise, don't add fragrance oil at all).

Now that you've added your color and scent to your candle, you can pour your wax into the containers that you previously prepared. Make sure to pour precisely so as not to get wax on the outside of your container!

The wax will need to dry before the candle turns to its final shade and fragrance, so allow the candle to cool before adding any embellishments to the jar to make it pretty for gifting!

Once everything is cooled, trim your wax and your container is ready for embellishments.