Whether your mom is bubbly, colourful, serious, passionate, a collector, or a tea fan, she most likely loves personalized gifts.
Discover how to make three natural candles, reflecting three different character traits to showcase her personality and spoil her on Mother's Day.
A project by: Chloé Comte
MATERIALS:
- bowls, candle jar, glass jars, ceramic jars, recycled jars (in this case, a tea canister and a glass jar) - recycled glass jar
- wooden stick
- natural wax (soy, beeswax, etc.)
- cotton wicks
- Glue Dots
- essential oils
- dried flowers
- tea leaves
- coconut oil
- glitter, COLORBERRY glitter, COLORBERRY cracks
- paintbrushes
- Mod Podge
INSTRUCTIONS:
All candles:1- Use Glue Dots to stick the wicks to the bottom of your jars.
2- In a recycled glass jar, melt the beeswax in a water bath (you can grate or cut it to speed up the melting process).
Vintage scented candle:
Once you've completed steps 1 and 2, let the wax cool a little before adding your essential oil blend, so that the heat doesn't distort their properties.
Pour your wax and essential oil mixture into your jars.
Let the wax cool and just before it solidifies, when it starts to change color, gently place dried flowers on top of the candle.
Add a finishing touch to your candle: glue the decorative labels you've already created and printed onto your containers.
Glitter candle:
Before you pour the wax, start by decorating your glass jar. Mix Mod Podge with glitter and apply two coats to the inside of your jar, allowing it to dry thoroughly between coats.
If you have a dark or amber glass jar, you can repeat the exact same steps on the outside.
Repeat steps 1 and 2, then pour your wax into the jar.
Once the wax has cooled, just before it solidifies, add some decorative glitter or cracks on top.
Tea candle:
Prepare and clean an old metal tea canister.
Infuse about 3 g of tea in 10 g of coconut oil on very low heat, without boiling the oil (ratio valid for 100 g of soy wax).
Repeat steps 1 and 2, then gently add the tea-infused coconut oil to the melted soy wax for fragrance. You can also add the tea leaves for decoration, or if you don't want to strain.
TO FINISH:
Once the wax is completely cured, trim the excess wick so that it is not too long, and to avoid unnecessary smoke. 
INFO, TIPS AND TRICKS:
- Depending on the size of your candle jars, you can use several wicks in one jar. - You can use any type of wick. However, be sure to choose your wicks based on their composition, which should be as natural as possible.
- Compared to kerosene wax, natural wax and beeswax do not release harmful particles into the air we breathe. In fact, when burning, kerosene wax emits a toxic soot and its production is harmful to the environment.
- To calculate the quantity of wax needed: volume of your container in ml x number of containers x 0.9 = weight of wax in g.
- To calculate the amount of essential oils needed in your candle, consider this ratio: 30 drops of essential oil for 70 g of wax.
- Even with natural candles, it's all about moderation. Remember to air your home often if you leave your candles burning all day.
- To prevent the candle from tunneling around the wick, you need a minimum burn time before you blow it out. Make sure that the entire top surface of the candle is liquid.
- A wick that has become too long will overheat and create more smoke. The ideal wick length is between 3 and 5 mm.
- To scent the tea candle, you need about 3 g of tea for 10 g of coconut wax to scent 100 g of wax.
