Soap Making Lessons - How To Make Soap

Scented candles increase the ambience of any room. If you are a romantic person, you will enjoy the warm aroma of scented candles. Your guests will be intoxicated with calm and well being. Also, the light of almost any candle enhances the elegance of a room.

The subtle aroma of a scented candle will heighten your spirit, even before the candle is lit. So when you come home tired and frazzled, the aroma & flickering glow of a scented wax candle will relieve your tightness & lift your spirits.

Aromatic candles serve as wonderful gifts for all occasions and every season, and they are particularily meaningful when crafted by your own hands.

1. Choose Your Fragrance For Candle Making

Fragrance oil is sold in most craft shops. Also, you may buy it online. I suggest that you opt for fragrance oils rather the cheaper alcohol and water based fragrances. Since your wax mix will be oil based, your fragrance should also be oil based. Why? Well, as oil and water do not blend, water based perfume tends not to mix with the melted wax.

2. Pick Your Wax

The basics of scented candle making are more or less the same as for ordinary wax candles. Start by selecting your wax. Available in the market is a versatile range of wax starting with the naturals, beeswax, palm & soy, and progressing to paraffin or gel wax. You should decide on the fragrance intensity of your candles before selecting your wax. For example, in case of gel candles, gel wax with less density holds less fragrance compared to gel wax with higher density.

3. The Process of Making Scented Candles

Now that we’ve covered wax selection, let’s talk about the process of creating scented candles.

The first task is to melt your wax. Use a double boiler for this purpose. That means place the wax in a small pot and, in turn, put that container into a slightly larger pot containing water. Now heat the H2O. Use a thermometer to ensure the wax is not burnt. The temperature must be kept between 170 &180 degrees F.

When the wax is melted, put a wick in the mold & take the wax from the heat source. Next add the fragrance oil that you’ve selected. A mixture of 1 ounce of fragrance oil to 1 pound of wax will create a fragrance level equal to 6% of candle density. Greater amounts of fragrance oil will cause the candle to burn out quicker.

Now pour the melted wax/fragrance mixture into your mold. The only job remaining is to let it cool before removing your candle from it’s mold.

Congratulations! You’re finished!

4. Try Different Things as You Go

You will gain great expertise in all phases of candle making once you start experimenting. By using different fragrances and colors, you will perfect the candle making technique and thoroughly enjoy the process.

It’s a great feeling to gift your friends with a scented homemade candle knowing that they will find the fragrant essences both relaxing and invigorating.

Candles are a great addition to any home. Of course the glow of candle light is charming, but in addition the candles themselves are a decorative item even when they’re not lit.  I’ve found some  ideas for candle projects at Candle Making Crafts. Here’s an idea you can use to create decorative candles from ordinary materials.

There are several good things about this project. For one, you can make any number of variations. By changing the type of decorations you use you can create candles appropriate for any season or occasion.

For another, is very economical. You’re going to use votive candles in canning jars, so there’s no big investment and materials. Canning jars are very affordable even if you buy them new. But you probably won’t have to buy them.

Commercially sold jam often comes in very attractive jars that you can use for this project. You can also find jars for next to nothing at flea markets and yard sales.

The other part of the project is a votive candle and a plain glass holder for it that you can purchase inexpensively at a discount store.

The basic idea with this project is to partially fill the canning jar with decorative material and then placing a votive candle on top of the decorations. You can also decorate the outside of the jar. For example, you can glue on decorations, use paint to create patterns or simply wrap it with a bow.

You can use a variety of materials to fill the jar. Some ideas include sand, marbles, hard candy, potpourri, river stones, polished coins…. In addition to being attractive, it adds a pleasant aroma as well.

Since you may be using somewhat flammable material as decoration, it is essential that the votive is inside its own glass holder. Using a candle without a holder creates a fire hazard.

Also keep the decorative material underneath the candle holder and don’t let the candle burn all the way to the bottom. And always remember the general safety principle of never leaving the room where a candle is burning.

As you’ve noticed, this project uses premade candles. I suspect you’ll probably want to make your own candles sooner rather than later. You’ll find excellent basic instructions at: How to Make Your Own Candles. Not only will you find great instructions right on that page but you can sign up for a free candle making mini course that’s very informative and helpful.

And if your wondering what equipment might be involved in the hobby of candle making, you’ll find answers at Candle Making Equipment.

I’m sure you’ll find candle making to be a fun and rewarding hobby. I encourage you to give it a try.

Most candle makers find using molds the most straight forward and versatile way to make candles. Candles can be shaped into just about any imaginable using the appropriate mold. 

Although many different forms can be used for molds, not every hollow form is suitable. Candle makers need to consider two factors when evaluating a potential mold. These characteristics are draft and undercut.

Draft is the easier concept to grasp. Draft refers to the degree of taper a mold has. Without the taper, it would be difficult or impossible to remove the candle from a solid mold.

Molds with parallel sides also work because wax shrinks enough as it cools to allow it to slide out of the mold.

Undercutting is another term you should be familiar with. An undercut is a protrusion or an irregularity in the side of a candle that would keep it from sliding out. This becomes a factor when using molds to make candles with irregular walls or shapes.

If the form you want to make has undercuts, you can’t use a one-piece solid mold. Fortunately, there are a couple of options. One is to use a mold with multiple parts that can be separated after the candle has hardened. Another answer is to use a very flexible mold that can be stretched to allow removal of the finished candle.

Symmetrical objects are usually casted for candle making using a two-part mold.  You could also use a flexible mold, but it isn’t required for this type of shape and rigid multi-part molds are more durable. In use, the candle maker clamps the pieces of a multi-part mold together, seals the seams to prevent leakage and then uses it as if it were a solid mold.

The other way to deal with the problem of undercutting is to use a mold made out of a very flexible substance that can be stretched off the candle much the way you might stretch a latex glove to remove it from your hand. Silicone is probably the premium material for making flexible molds, but other materials work almost as well and the less expensive.

You can get more details at: Candle Making Molds

While you’re there, definitely sign up for your free candle making mini-course. You may also want to check out:

Candle Making Wax

You’ll definitely be surprised when you see how many choices you have concerning this most basic material!

May be the best advice I can give you that will help you save time and money and avoid frustration is to check out Home Candle Making Made Easy

That book will help you almost completely eliminate the learning curve and have you producing flawless candles from your first attempts.

It’s funny how some things that were a chore at one point in time become a hobby and craft at another time. I think we’re seeing that with home candle making. I recently visited a page (Home Candle Making) that made it pretty clear.

It used to be that making candles was a necessary household chore, at least if the family wanted to be able to have any light after sunset. Home candle making used to be a rather unpleasant task. For centuries, the most common candles were made from tallow, a processed animal fat. Tallow candles couldn’t “hold a candle” to today’s candles (my apologies – couldn’t help myself).

Candle making moved out of the home with the development of paraffin and candle making machines. People readily gave up the chore of making hundreds of candles to light their home for the year once affordable, clean burning candles became commercially available and affordable.

As you well know, incandescent electric lights have become the preferred way to light our homes, but people still enjoy using candles. For years people were content to buy their candles rather than make them as a household chore.

Candles are used is today in rituals, such as religious services, weddings, and of course birthday parties. People also use them in their homes because they enjoy the ambience created by the flickering candlelight. And of course candle light is always associated with the romantic dinner, whether at home or out at a fancy restaurant.

So candles have always remained popular, even if no longer purely utilitarian. However, for many years almost no one made their own candles.  Now the cycle is moving full circle and candle making is moving back into the home. This terrific craft is increasing in popularity and hobbyist candle makers are producing wonderful candles that are every bit as good or better than commercially made candles.

Some people even make candles that are much better than anything you will find in a store.

If you want to try making a candle at home, the simplest way to get started is to make a rolled candle using a purchased sheet of wax.  This is a good way to start because it is so simple and you don’t even need to melt the wax. you form a candle from the wax by rolling it tightly around a wick.

Once you try that method, you can expand your repertoire to other techniques. A good place to find out how is: How to Make Your Own Candles.  That site also offers a free candle making mini-course that’s well work signing up for.

If you think you’re interested in trying candle making, probably the best resource I can point you to is Home Candle Making Made Easy. That ebook tells you everything you need to know to start making all kinds of candles.

Making your own candles is an increasingly popular activity for people interested in crafts. While candles aren’t the household necessity they once were, candles have always remained popular. People enjoy decorative candle even more when they’ve made it themselves.

Contemporary candle makers are The standard bearers of an historic craft. Although the candle may appear like a simple object to us, it took endless experimentation to produce candles anything close to the quality we routinely enjoy. Candle making continues to evolve today. When you get involved, your joining a long lineage of artisans.

But where to begin? We’ve all seen beautifully crafted candles in specialty boutiques that are obviously beyond the capabilities of to a beginner. But even making a simple candle such as a pillar candle can be quite involved. There are more ways to go wrong than you might think.

There are a wide assortment of techniques that can be used. And of course you need to select which candle wax all wax blend you going to use from the dozens available . Each of these behaves differently. When you’re making a candle, you need to to select the wax that you think will work best.

{But experienced candle makers don’t stop there. They often use additives to change characteristics of the wax such as opacity or hardness. That’s another whole range of decisions that need to be made.

Wicks are another area that’s more involved than seems obvious. Picking the correct size is crucial, but their other considerations as well. Should the wick be primed? Round or square weave? Cored or not, and if cored, with what?

As you can see, there’s a lot to know about just picking the right wax and wick. Beyond that there’s a whole question of dyes and fragrances and decorations and…

I think you can see how it might be easy for a beginner to make some mistakes and become discouraged.

I found a new e-book that I believe is the answer to this dilemma. It’s called Home Candle Making Made Easy. It’s a great book.

The author, Jeff Beckwith, has been a candle making enthusiasts since his childhood. He has enough experience that he could choose to come across as a no-it-all, but he doesn’t. Instead, it’s kind of like having a buddy tell you about silly mistakes they made so you won’t do the same thing yourself.

Having insider tips and secrets handed to you on a silver platter avoids an incredible amount of frustration and wasted time. This book is chock full of such information.

Before you try making your first candle I strongly recommend that you get this book. It will shorten your learning curve tremendously in virtually guarantee success from your very first project. You will get the details at:

Home Candle Making Made Easy

And if you want a short introduction to candle making, go to the homepage on Jeff’s site

http://www.candlemakingconnection.com/

Be sure to sign up for the free candle making mini course.

Candle making is a wonderful hobby and I encourage you to get this book and discover for yourself how quickly you can become an expert if you start with the right advice.

The merits of arts and crafts such as drawing and coloring for kids are regularly argued by child development experts, educators and parents alike… especially so for the real impact they can have on child development. However, it is difficult to disagree with the top three reasons why we should all encourage the children in our care to take part in arts and crafts.

Creativity - If you were to ask a cross section of individuals what is the first personality characteristic that arts and crafts will develop in a young child - most would answer ‘creativity’. And they are correct. Everyone has natural talents and skills and it is possible to improve and boost them… even if you only have a little natural talent. Creativity enables your child to try out and profit from new
ideas, options and alternatives in any future career. Kids learn to do things in new and alternate ways and literally profit from thinking “out of the box”.

Perseverance - Perseverance is perhaps the single most important quality for any successful individual - be they a a business person, sportsman or other professional.In fact, most well-known accomplishments in life have been attributed to perseverance alone. Arts and crafts improve everyone’s level of perseverance. For instance, children learn to keep trying until they complete the task, be it a sculpture or a coloring in sheet. If something goes wrong… they are encouraged to perservere by trying different ways and means and the outcome is a wonderful piece of art that they have created.

Concentration - Akin to having perseverance, developing concentration is another quality well-worth having as an individual. Drawing, colouring, sculpting, painting & even doodling will teach your child to focus on one specific task at hand… ignoring other distractions. In short their overall concentration will definitely improve.

Even from a young age children can draw and color - so give them blank pieces of paper or coloring in sheets so that they can scribble away to their hearts content whilst also improving their fine motor skills.

For example little girls enjoy coloring images of princesses and fairies and at sites like Fairy Coloring Pages you’ll find the best fairy coloring page

Little boys on the other hand tend to prefer images of cars, trucks and machinery – however, favorite characters such as those from Disney movies are also hits with little boys.

Give your child many opportunities to experience being creative, concentrating and perservering through the fun medium of arts and crafts. Provide them with materials and resources and the occasional canvas so that they can be creative and feel pride in what they create.

Does any one knows how to make soap by using used cooking oil ???? what`s the formula ?

first you need to strain your cooking oil to get out any food bits in the oil - In order to know how much lye and water you would need to make a successful batch of soap. You need to know what kind of oil you have - canola, soybean, corn oil extra and how much you have — by weight — it is recommended that you use 3 or more oils in your formula for soap making. Once you know how much oil you have you need to plug this information into a reliable lye calculator to determine the amount of lye and water needed. I recommend — the one you can down load from here: http://www.millersoap.com/worksheet.html or one of these two
Majestic Mountain Sage Lye Calculator for Creating Soap Formulas (http://www.the-sage.com/services/calculator.html)

Kym has a lot of great information, but not all the information is there — such as what temp. of oil and lye water should be when ready to mix together…i recommend checking out http://www.millersoap.com in depth before embarking on your new soap making adventures.

I love to make soap. Cold process. anyone willing to share tips? Thank you!

Absolutely!! I've been making soap since1998 and love it. So much in fact that I made a website to provide soapmakers with a place to get information about anything related to soap making.

http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/

Another great thing to do is visit soap making forums….what could be better than a bunch of soapmakers all gathered to talk shop? People are usually really great and share tons of info and answer your questions quite quickly. I've put a page together that lists a bunch of them and they are all free…you just have to register.

http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/soap-making-forum.html

Hope to see you around the forums! I mostly frequent The Soap Making Forum and Fresholi.

Happy Soaping!!

I have recently decided that I want to attempt 2 make soap. While I am familiar with the basic materials needed, Does any one know where I can find an inexpensive 12 qt pot. I also would like to know what do I need to use to mix the soap together.

I was told that using metal with lye is a big no no.

I make both actually.

Soap making is a lot of fun, but there are many bad recipes out there. So you want to find a recipe that is well balanced of the oils since they are not all created equal. I also suggest the cold processed method and more importantly the room temp method.

I use plastic for all of mine soap making and don't deal with metal at all. Unless you count the blade of my stick blender.

Yes there is a link in my profile to email me, and if you want me to share more in greater detail about making soap, and different types of soap and whatnot. I do like to share with others what I have learned.

Regarding laundry soap, this is a big topic for me and I have done a lot of research into it.

The powdered version that uses 1-2 tbs isn't enough to clean your clothes, plus it doesn't really dissolve in cold water either, so that doesn't get your clothes clean.

Most liquid recipes contain even less active ingredients 1.5 to 3 teaspoons for most recipes on the net per load because your adding mostly water.

So do your math and figure that into the amount of water being added. The box of borax and the box of washing soda say to use 1/2 cup along with your regular laundry detergent to clean laundry. So do you still think a few teaspoons or a tablespoon of a mixture of soap, borax and washing soda is enough to really clean.

For what your adding with that small amount you might as well wash your laundry in plain water.