No Stitching, Just Candles

It's been in the 90's around here the past week and the bugs have come out to feast on me. I went to the store for citronella candles but didn't find any I liked because they never seem strong enough, so like a good little crafter I searched online for info on making my own - and then I did!

I went to Michael's craft store and bought some candle wax and a double boiler pot with a handle. I also bought citronella essential oil at Sprouts.

I chopped up the wax. Here's a picture of the label and the wax. I was going to use jars so I got the glass fill wax. I opted for paraffin wax over soy because  some websites suggested that it burns hotter and is more flame resistant. These are outside candles after all.

I weighed out 1 pound of wax and melted it over a pot of simmering water. After the wax was melted I added 1/2 ounce of citronella essential oil.

I had prepared jars in advance. I'd seen some really cute candle holders at a craft show recently and decided to make up something like that. I found some inexpensive candlesticks at a dollar store and dug some old canning jars out of the garage, glued them together using E-6000 and let them set for 24 hours. I stuck premade wicks to the bottom of the jars using sticky wax and kept the wicks straight by paper-clipping the wick to a stick across the jar.

I poured the wax into the jars and let them set up. Pretty simple! They smell really strong, too. I ended up making 6 half-pint jars and a 1/2 fill of a pint jar from 2 pounds of wax and 1 ounce of citronella oil. The double boiler came with some wax and vanilla scent, so I made up some vanilla votives too. I let them harden overnight and trimmed the wicks.

 Then I tied ribbon around the to dress them up.

                   Pretty!










I finally read the candle wax instructions and I probably should have saved some of the wax to fill in the depression around the wick that formed as the wax cooled, but who cares?