Hobby Farms

HAND-POURED JAR CANDLES

YIELD: two 16-ounce pint-sized jars or four 8-ounce jelly jar candles

SUPPLIES

• medium saucepan to use as a double boiler to heat water

• 4-cup glass measuring cup or other heat-safe container to melt wax in

(preferably with handle)

• candy thermomete­r

• soy or beeswax pellets

• candle wicks (I prefer 8-inch hemp pre-waxed and tabbed wicks)

• wick stickers or high temperatur­e hot glue to adhere the wicks to the bottom of your candle

• organic essential oils (optional)

• stirring utensil (I prefer a long wooden kebab skewer)

• clothespin­s (to hold the wick centered)

• clean canning jars or other heat-safe containers to use for candle-making

• water, as needed

DIRECTIONS

Line your workspace with newspaper, parchment paper, cardboard or paper towels to catch any spillage.

Adhere your tabbed wicks to the center of clean, dry jars. You can use high-temperatur­e hot glue (it must be high-heat glue, or it well melt when burned) or use wick stickers for this step. Use a wooden skewer (or other tool) to push down the tabs firmly to the bottom of your container if it’s too deep for your fingers to reach. Thread a clothes pin over the adhered wick and center it over the jar.

Create a double boiler by using a medium sized saucepan. Fill the pan about one quarter full of water. In the saucepan, add a 4-cup heat-safe glass measuring cup or other heatsafe container for melting wax. I use a metal melting pot that came with a candle making set, specifical­ly made for melting wax. It has a handle and pour spout which is incredibly handy for filling jars with hot wax.

Fill the container with wax pellets and warm the water to a simmer to melt wax. Stir often. Add more water to the pot as needed, if it simmers away while heating.

Once the wax has melted somewhat and made room in the container, add more wax. You’ll need about 4 cups melted wax to fill two 16-ounce pint jars (or four 8-ounce jars).

Different brands of wax have different instructio­ns regarding how high to heat the wax and how low to let it cool before pouring. Please check the directions for the specific brand of wax you purchase. For example, the soy wax that I use for candle making directs me to heat the wax to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, remove from heat and allow it to cool to 135 degrees before stirring in any scent. Then, I must cool the wax to 115 degrees before pouring it into my jars.

Once your wax is fully melted, remove it from the water and allow it to cool to the temperatur­e noted in the directions that your wax came with. Once cooled, stir in organic essential oils of choice (optional), and allow it to cool further before pouring into jars. I use 2 teaspoons of cinnamon essential oils for a faint cinnamon scent.

Waiting for the wax to cool is the most time consuming part of candle making. I typically have a thermomete­r set in the wax that I periodical­ly check on and as it gets closer to my desired temperatur­es, I will set a timer to check every few minutes.

Once cooled to the advised temperatur­e per the brand of wax you’re using, carefully pour the wax into the prepared jars, leaving a half an inch of headspace (space from the top of the wax

to the rim of the jar) for 8-ounce candles and a ½ inch to 1 inch of head space for pint-sized jars. If you want to add some dried flowers to the top of your candle wax, this is the time to do so.

Once poured, adjust the clothespin so that the wick is centered in the candle. Leave the candle undisturbe­d until completely cooled, this will take a few hours. Once the wax is firm and the jar is completely cooled, you can trim the wick to about 1⁄4-inch before burning.

I’ll usually reapply the canning lid and tightly screw on the ring onto the candle to keep the wax clean until use.

When gifting the candles, they can be jazzed up with ribbon or twine around the rim of the jar. Dried (pesticide-free) flower petals can be sprinkled over the hot wax after pouring to add a little beauty and color to the candle. Though, just a gentle sprinkle is enough because you don’t want to catch the flowers on fire once burned.

Once candles have been burned and only have about a quarter inch of wax left, they can be cleaned out and reused. To clean out the remaining wax, dip the emptied candle jar into a pan of hot water until the wax loosens and melts. Once the wax has melted, it can easily be dumped and wiped out from the jar and the jar can be reused to make a new candle.

Note: Animals can have adverse effects to essential oils, especially once the oils are heated. Please consult an expert on essential oils for more informatio­n as to which essential oils are safe and which are unsafe to use as scents for candles if you have pets in the home.