Do you love candles? Obviously, the answer is yes! 🙂 There’s just something about lit candles that make a home feel extra cozy – especially on those cold winter days! The good news is that candle making is super easy! Just follow the tutorial, and I’ll prove it to you! Â
Supplies:
- soy wax – I like to use soy wax because it burns cleaner and lasts longer than the traditional paraffin wax. Here is the wax I used.Â
- wicks – These are the wicks I used. You want to make sure you get the right wicks for the size of the jars you will be using. The ones I got are size medium – if you’ll be using a bigger mason jar, you will want the large ones.Â
- mason jars – I used the pint size (regular mouth not wide mouth) and some little 3×3″ jars. You can buy a bulk package like I bought here from Michaels, or here from Amazon. The bulk package is a REALLY good deal! And I’ll be sharing more mason jar crafts with you soon, so having some extra mason jars will be a good thing! You can find the 3″ jars that I used here.
- fragrance oil – pick any fragrance that you want! I’ve used many different fragrance oils including vanilla, cinnamon, apple cinnamon, etc. There are some great options at Michaels, and Amazon. You can also use Essential Oils if you want to. For a good strong scent you’ll want to use around 1-1.5 ounces of oil per pound of wax that you use.Â
- spices (optional) – I used cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice in a couple of the candles I made.Â
- microwave safe dish (to melt the wax in) – you can use a large glass measuring cup to make it easy to pour the wax into your jar, or you can use a bowl and a funnel like I did.Â
- a pencil, spoon/fork, little dowel rod – this will be used to keep the wick in the center of the jar as the wax is cooling
- clothespins – you can get some from Michaels here, or from Amazon here
- hot glue gun- you can get one from Michaels here, or one from Amazon here
- hot glue sticks – you can get some from Michaels here, or from Amazon here
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Instructions:
- Use your hot glue gun to glue your candle wick in the center of the mason jar.
- Melt wax flakes in the microwave. I microwaved mine for 1 minute, then I stopped and stirred it, and then microwaved it again in 30 second increments.
- Once the wax is completely melted, add in your fragrance oils and stir until it’s blended. The more oil you add, the stronger the scent will be. I suggest that you add 1-1.5 ounces of oil per pound of wax for a stronger scent.
- (optional) Add spices. This adds more fragrance, and a cool look, especially for those cinnamon, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice latte scented candles!
- Pour the wax into the mason jar. If you pour it into the jar, and it’s obvious that you need more wax to fill the jar up to the desired height, don’t worry! It takes the wax a decent amount of time to harden. Just take your time, and melt some more wax, add a tiny bit more fragrance oil, and then add it to the mason jar. You do NOT need to rush or panic – trust me, I know from experience 🙂
- Gently pull the candle wick taut, and wrap it around a pencil, fork, spoon, etc. Do NOT pull hard on the candle wick because you don’t want it to come unglued from the bottom – but do pull gently and firmly enough to ensure that the wick is straight.
- Use a clothespin to secure the wick around the pencil/fork. Otherwise the wick will slowly unwrap itself, and it won’t stay pulled taut and straight.
- Let the wax cool and harden.
- (optional) If you used some kind of spice (cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, etc) you can sprinkle some more of the spice into the wax as it’s cooling. The spices typically fall to the bottom of the jar, but if you sprinkle some in as it hardens, there will be some flakes sprinkled in throughout the candle.
- Once the wax has hardened all the way, trim the wick. Then light your candle and enjoy! 🙂Â
- (optional) Decorate your mason jar candles! I’ll share some of the ways I decorated my mason jar candles below!
Decorating Ideas For Your Mason Jar Candles
Idea #1 – Frayed Fabric Strip + Twine + GreeneryÂ
1.Cut a piece of fabric – I bought my fabric at Hobby Lobby.
2. Fray the top and bottom edges of the fabric by pulling threads off of the top and bottom.
3. Cut 3 pieces of twine. Wrap the fabric around the mason jar, and then tie the pieces of twine around the mason jar and tie a bow.Â
4. Stick a piece of greenery behind the bow. I used greenery from this angel pine and pinecone pick.
(This candle is cinnamon scent, using cinnamon fragrance oil.)
Idea #2 – Simple Knotted Twine
*Tie three pieces of twine around the neck of the mason jar, and tie the twine in a knot. Trim the twine pieces to the desired length. (This candle is pumpkin spice latte scent, using vanilla fragrance oil and pumpkin pie spice. I used the McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice.)
Idea #3 – Twine + Rusty Bell
*Cut two pieces of twine. Tie the pieces of twine around the neck of the mason jar using a basic knot (take the pieces of twine and thread one set of twine over the other and then pull them tight – the same way you do when you’re beginning to tie your shoes). Now that the twine is tied, slide a rusty bell onto just one of the pieces of twine and push it all the way up to the neck of the jar where the basic knot is. Now use the pieces of twine to tie a normal bow. Cut the ends of the twine. *Note* To see how I made these jingle bells look rusty, click here!
Idea #4 – Twine Wrap + Pinecones & Greenery
*Wrap the neck of the mason jar with twine several times until the neck of the jar is mostly covered, tie the twine in a bow (cutting off any excess twine to the desired length), and then slip a little piece of greenery and pinecones underneath the twine. (This candle is apple cinnamon scent, using apple cinnamon fragrance oil.)
Idea #5 – Frayed Fabric + Twine + Rusty Bells
* Cut a strip of fabric (this fabric is also from Hobby Lobby). Fray the fabric using the method described under idea #1. Tie twine around the jar to hold the fabric in place. Use more twine to tie 3 rusty bells onto one of the strands of twine already wrapped around the jar. (This candle is pumpkin spice latte scent, using vanilla fragrance oil and pumpkin pie spice.)
Now light your candles and enjoy them!Â
These candles will make perfect holiday gifts for your friends, family, teachers, neighbors, etc! I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t be excited to receive a gorgeous homemade mason jar candle!
And if you know people who have allergies to fragrances, just leave the fragrance oil out and make them scentless candles. Whether the candles have a strong scent, or no scent at all, it’s still fun to have lit candles around the house, making your home extra cozy. I actually like to make scentless candles to use in the kitchen sometimes, so that if I have a candle lit while I’m cooking or we are eating dinner it doesn’t mix with the other scents from the food and make a weird fragrance – ha!
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