Candlemaking: An Established Art

CEBU, Philippines – Candles are a symbol, whether it may be used for a specific occasion or for your own personal need. The making of candles is almost as easy as buying them, but the only advantage of making them yourself is to give you the chance to choose your preferred shape, scent, color and size.

Candlemaking is a good past time and hobby. Candles are wonderful displays for your room or bathroom, to use when pampering yourself, to give as personalized presents, to use for religious events or to place at the cemetery for departed loved ones. It also makes a great business for some extra cash on the side.

Create different shapes with the use of empty candleholders, tins (not ribbed), used mugs, containers (as long as the mouth is wider than the base) and any other shapes that might inspire you. I even once tried using a deep enough cookie tray and had excellent results. You might want to add some color or flavored scents (lamp oil is a good option) to it as well. Another idea is to include some extras, such as petals, leaves, beads, glitter, etc. onto the candles for a variety that suits your preference. The results do make fantastic collections and decorations.

There are many different substances/mixtures you may use to make candles. A few examples include the use of paraffin – one type that increases the burning rate of your candle, beeswax - to create a slower burning process or reusing/recycling mixed excess candlewax.

The simple candlemaking process begins by (1) dipping the cotton wick repeatedly into the melted (scented or unscented) wax (the smaller the candle, the smaller the wick) then to, (2) pour the liquid wax into your preferred mould containing the wick and lastly, (3) let your product dry, then you’re finished.

Dried wax can be a pain to remove. To wash excess wax, some boiling water will easily do the trick, or let the wax dry then scrape. Just a quick reminder: never leave a candle burning unattended.