Secrets of Candle Making Crafts

Candle making has been around since the first caveman discovered fire, lit a stick and walked into a cave, dimly illuminating the walls of his new home with the first primitive candle. To help build his civilization it was felt necessary to illuminate homes at night and other places at night. Illumination by candles was then extended to the streets of the towns and cities and by doing so reducing the number of night street crimes.

In our modern world the necessity of having candles has largely disappeared, but candle making, especially at home, is a popular and growing a hobby among a wide variety of people from the young to the very old. The reasons people have for wanting to make candles in their own homes, are as variable as the number of different styles and shapes of the candles they produce, either for their own pleasure; to give away as gifts and presents, or to sell as a home based business.

It is very easy and rewarding to make candles for all, or some of, the above reasons.

Tools are obtainable from many craft stores with which to build your own candle making hobby. These same craft stores usually carry a diverse and varied stock of molds, wax and wicks - the latter, both primed and un-primed. More and more of these craftspeople also carry color, fragrances and decorations etc, due to the steadily increasing demands by hobbyists, such as yourself. There are also a hobby shops carrying the product you need and these are also obtainable through the internet on websites and such as eBay.com, as well as other auction sites and sales places.

As you will basically learn, through this series of articles on this site, candle making is not a difficult art. Much easier than learning a musical instrument, for instance. Here are some basic instructions on candle making, as repeated with extra tips and ideas throughout this website. First you prepare the wax. This is melted in a double boiler. This is a larger pot filled with water and placed on the gas, or electric range, or stove. A smaller part containing the wax is then placed in the water of the larger pot. This is heated, until the wax is melted. The wick is then placed in the candle mold and the wax poured in around it. The wax then cools down over several hours before it is removed from the mold. If you wish, you can speed up the process by putting it in your freezer for 30 minutes, or so and then remove the finished candle from the mold. A good tip I learned was to spray Pam or some other nonstick cooking spray over the inside of the mold before the wax is put in. Certainly makes it a lot easier to get out the finished candle.

The number of candles of different styles and shapes that you can make at home is almost limitless. In fact in many ways you are limited only by your own imagination. There are just so many different colors perfumes scents, fragrances, decorations, colors and such. Later, as you gain more experience in your hobby/home candle business, you may wish even to make up your own molds. One way to do this is to use liquid latex. This is built up, layer by layer over a form. A slight snag using latex as a mold is that the latex is a bit too rubbery to stand up on its own, when you pull the wax into them. Simple solution! Take a piece of sturdy cardboard and cut a hole in it, a little smaller than the lip at the bottom. It is necessary for latex molds to have a lip on the bottom. The cardboard supports the mold as the wax is poured into it.

If you so wish, you can also turn his hobby into quite a profitable little home business, as some entrepreneurial types have already discovered. Like most businesses that succeed, a genuine interest in it really helps and of course, operating from home means that your overheads are extremely low compared with renting out a brick and mortar shop, or warehouse. You could always buy your candle making requirements at discount prices in bulk, again at places like eBay or Ubid.com, etc. These budding entrepreneurial types also have the time to put into attractively packaging their products. It's all limited only by your imagination. There are buyers out there and they are always seeking something new at a reasonable price, as a quick trip around any flea market in your local area will readily disclose.

Good luck, and enjoy your new hobby/business?

Ray Cunningham.