I decided that, as this year is the year of trying all kinds of crafts (and revisiting some that have fallen by the wayside), that I'd try my hand at candle making. And with the tea swap to inspire me, off I went.
I tried out a couple of kits from House of Crafts, which included all the relevant materials and fairly comprehensive instructions.
And yes, I was sad enough to take photographs of wax melting. Action shots, I'll have you know.
Extreme close up there, with fantastic melty action. Ahem, yes, I'll calm down now.
So, once it had all melted, it was time to get pouring. Please note that I had learned from my previous experience with the lipbalms and had used my pyrex jug as the double boiler (well, it turned out as more of a bain marie, but we'll gloss over that for the time being) which made it so much easier to fill the moulds.
I wanted to put some coffee beans into a couple of the candles, so first tried just putting them in the bottom of one of the moulds and filling it up. Not the best idea in the world, as they all floated straight to the top.
Very arty, I'm sure, but I didn't want them to end up on the bottom of the candle. Oh well.
So, I decided that for the second attempt, I'd do things slightly differently and layer the coffee beans with the wax, so at least some of them would be suspended in the middle of the candle. And through the gift of time lapse photography (or just hanging around for a bit), this is how it worked out.
The last bit looks a bit messy, I know, but fortunately, it's on the bottom of the candle, so not visible unless you really want to look.
In addition to the special coffee candles, I made a few other 'normal' candles and this is how they all turned out.
Close up of the two coffee candles.
So there you have it. Candles, in one afternoon. Not bad for a first attempt, really. The only thing I would say is, keep a spare pan just for wax melting/double boiling. It's worth it, if only to stop you ruining all your decent pans.
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