Make your own candles with this method that uses a slow cooker for a simple way to melt the wax with little hands-on effort.
Keyword: Candles
Yield: 4candles
Author: Beverly
Equipment:
Crockpot (also called Slow Cooker)
Clothespins
Scissors
Materials:
4Glass 4 oz Mason Jars
3cupsBeeswax Pellets
4Scented Wax Cubes (optional for color & fragrance)
4Candle Wicks (I used a 4" piece per candle)
Instructions:
Fill each of your jars to the top with the beeswax pellets. Begin with about 1/2 cup of pellets per 4 oz jar. For an easy way to add color and fragrance, you can add one scented wax cube to each jar too. The darker the color of your wax cube, the more color it will add. When using a scented cube, fill your jar half way with the beeswax, add the cube, and then continue to fill the jar with the rest of the beeswax.
Place your wax filled jars into your slow cooker. Then add boiling water to the crockpot so that the water comes about half way up the outside of the jars.
Once the jars and water are in the crockpot, put the lid on the crockpot and set the heat to "High". Let the jars heat in the crockpot until the wax is melted. This will take about an hour.
The wax level in the jar will be a little lower once it has melted. You can add a few more spoonfuls of wax to the jars while they are still in the crockpot, and it will take another 15 minutes or so for the additional wax to melt. I did this a couple of times to make the wax level a little higher in my jars.
When you are happy with the melted wax level, remove the jars from the crockpot and place them on a towel or hot pad.
Add a wick to each candle. I used a 4"wick for each of my 4 oz jar candles, and held the wick in place using a wooden clothespin. (Ink pens with clips can work too if you don't have any clothespins)
Let the jars sit until the wax has completely hardened. Once the wax has hardened, use a scissors to trim the wick down to about a 1" length.