How to make candles at home

How to make candles at home

Becki Clark shows you how to make candles at home just in time for spring!

Becki Clark

Welcome the arrival of a new season by making your own candles. These spring-scented homemade candles make the perfect decoration for the spring equinox or to gift to friends for a spring treat. We've used soy wax for this candle tutorial to make them vegan and eco-friendly. If you'd prefer more traditional candles then head over to our how to make beeswax candles.

We've upcycled plant pots for this tutorial making this tutorial extra sustainable! You could use old jars, pots, or even tea cups instead. DIY mason jar candle holders also work well or why not use egg cups like we have in our how to make egg cup candles tutorial? Whatever vessel you use we guarantee these soy wax candles will make your home smell beautiful. Once you've mastered this candle-making technique check out our best candle making kits for more fun projects.

You will need:

  • Soy Wax
  • Waxed candle wicks (you can learn how to make a candle wick yourself here on Gathered)
  • Floral scents
  • Old pots/cups/ glasses/jars to make them in
  • Saucepan
  • Bowl
  • Hob

How to make candles at home

You will need:

  • Soy Wax
  • Waxed candle wicks
  • Floral scents
  • Pot
  • Saucepan
  • Bowl

Step 1

soya wax melting in a bowl

Add your soy flakes to the bowl and heat over a saucepan full of boiling water until the flakes have melted, if you want to make candles with all the same scent use a bigger bowl so you can melt down the soy flakes all at once. If you fancy making a few different scented candles then you can use a small bowl like mine and repeat the melting process for each new scent.

Step 2

close up of floral scent bottle

Add a few drops of your chosen scent to the melted soy flakes and stir well.

Step 3

close up of a pot with a wick at the bottom

Place your candle wick in the center of your chosen vessel, there’s no need to attach it to the bottom as the weight of the soy wax will hold it in place.

Step 4

melted wax in a candle pot with a wick in

Pour your scented wax in and check your wick has remained in the middle, if you are finding that it tends to move or not stand up you can rest two pencils on top of the vessel that can hold the wick in between them.

Step 5

drying wax in candle pot

I had some wax left over so also repeated this process into a Kilner jar to save wasting the mixture. You can see this is a much larger vessel but the process still remains the same.

Step 6

scissors cutting a wick of a candle

Leave for a couple of hours to harden up and then you can cut the excess length off the top of the wick before lighting to celebrate the season… If you’re going to gift these to a pal make sure you check out our how to do furoshiki wrapping and our suminagashi gift wrap tutorial.

two lit candles

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning how to make candles at home! If you’re keen for more candle making DIY’s check out our how to make egg cup candles tutorial. We also have lots of DIY candle holders like our log candle holders and our wooden candle holder centerpiece.

Becki Clark

Creative designer and author

Becki Clark is a creative designer and Author based in the New Forest. Inspired by the changing seasons and the magic of nature, Becki enjoys working on a range of projects from craft DIYs to illustration, writing books and running seasonally inspired workshops. She had a sausage dog called Reggie who joins her in her studio each day.
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