Welcome to tses candle page, this is one of our crafts

Water Candles or Free Form Candles. These candles are fun and easy to make. They don't require a mold, and the materials are minimal. No two come out alike, and the varieties are unlimited. What you need is a tall clean waste basket of water, someone who doesn't mind getting their arms wet, it is cold water. Heat your wax to 190 degrees and pour a small amount into a pie plate. Immediately lift the plate and plunge into the water. We use different colors and have everybody pour their color onto the plate as it is being lowered. These candles can not be burn and are only for decorations, the wax forms are very thin and fragile. They are a lot of fun to make. They are messy and the work area should be protected from drips.

These candles are made in small plastic molds. Paraffin wax is heat to 190 degrees and color and liquid scent is added. They are then left to cool about 8 hours. The 2 round candles have a green top and look like ripe tomatoes. One these is a layered candle. When using plastic molds it is always wise to remember to let the wax cool slightly before pouring.

These candles are made by pouring hot wax over a mold filled with chunks made from different colored wax and scented. The pieces are cut in various sizes and placed in the mold. We make chunks out of all leftover wax in thin sheets on either dishes or large pieces of foil. We do not break them up into uniform pieces, because we use different sizes for the different effects.

These candles are made in metal molds. If using a plastic mold, the wax must be cooled before putting it into the mold. As the candle cools a well forms and this must be filled. The well created by the cooling of the wax, needs to be refilled after 45 minutes of cooling. It must be filled about 3 times. A 45 minute time between cooling works great for us. We leave a cup of the wax for filling the well, be sure to create a good hole for the refilling.

These candles are made in small plastic molds. We make them in mushrooms, owls, frogs and also plain circles and squares. We often paint faces on the frogs and on Santa.

These candles are made in plastic molds. The molds must be held by sand or blocks of wood to hold them tightly together. The wax must be cooled before putting into a plastic mold, we use a high melting point wax so that it holds up in our 100+ degree temperatures here in the Sierra Mountain foothills. We also add stearine to all candles.

The large white candle is and ice/chunk candle, they are made by first soaking the wick with wax or using a pre-made candle and then layering alternately ice and chunks of wax. These candles are set very quickly and can be made in any kind of mold including milk cartons. It is best to spray the mold with "Pam" a vegetable spray sold in the USA. "Pam" is used to stop the mold from holding the candle in, and gives the candle a smooth finish and allows the candle to release easily. The plain ice candle was made in a plastic container from a drink and did not come out willingly, infact we cut the mold off. Even though we sprayed it first with "Pam" it still did not release. Some people like to take the extra wax from the sides off to show more of the holes made by the ice. One thing is for sure, use a large candle holder capable of catching any trapped water as well as the wax.

These candles are chunk candles. The clear wax was poured over chunks the color of the rainbow after it was allowed to cool slightly the white wax was scented and had stearine added to it before pouring the candles. The other candle was poured hot to allow color to bleed into it, it has also been torched to bring out the colors of the chunks. Most of these candles are 12 1/2 inches tall. I prefer tall candles and make them as tall as 3 feet, they do take much more wax and have a long cooling time and also require that the well be filled more than normal of 3 times for the 13 inch candles.

The tall candles are 2 inches by 12 inches, I make 2 at a time of these and make them in both brilliant and off colors, scented. These candles make a nice gift as a pair and I can make up to six of them at a time.

These candles are layered candles. Each color of wax was poured and it was allowed to cool, and then another layer of different color was poured, the round small one was then later covered with whipped wax and is shown below. Different effects can be made by tipping the mold as it is poured and letting it sit in that position until the wax has cooled, then tipping it a different direction and pouring another layer of wax.

The white is a whipped covered candle, the color of the candles shows through the whipped topping and give a wonderful look. The other candle was made by using white chunks and pastel chunks and pouring white scented cooled wax over it.

The candle to the left is a layered candle. Each color of wax was poured and it was allowed to cool, and then another layer of different color was poured, different effects can be made by tipping the mold as it is poured and letting it sit in that position until the wax has cooled, then tipping it a different direction and pouring another layer of wax. The only problem with making these in a metal mold is you have no idea how thick each layer is. The new transparent polycarbonate molds will make pouring of these much easier to get uniform heights in your pour. The candles in the angel candle holders are dipped candles and have different colored layers of wax. To make a carved candles the candle must be dipped more than my pot allows. But it is definitely a beautiful candle.

These tall candles are chunk candles and stand 18 inches high and are 3 inches around. I used large wicks on these and enjoy them burning for a long time. I prefer to make them as chunk candles as they take almost 5 pounds of wax. The round mold was made for me by a friend who is a sheet metal worker and the square on was purchased many years ago.

As you can see we love to make chunk candles, and they often give off different scents as the burn as our chunks are scent before we pour them into big trays to cool. Also it gives us a chance to use up left over wax and old wax that is melted down and we always add stearine to it. This makes for a candle that will hold up in our hot summers. It also gives you many varieties to make with the different colors available. I use powdered color and liquid scent. I have tried crayons, and all different types of dye, but have the most control over my color with the powdered dye and it goes a long way. Also the color combinations are endless. The octagon spiral and tapered oval are both made to appear like a rainbow.

Some other neat things can be done to these and that will be on here later.

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Last updated 9 /7/2003

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