Homemade Soy Candles (Step-by-Step Instructions)

Learning how to make soy candles is surprisingly easy and make a great gift for friends and family or if you just like candles.

When I got into woodworking a year and a half ago, it brought out my DIY nature that had been lying asleep for almost 30 years. I began looking at different projects that you could make at home that would be easy and fun. Keep in mind I was also trying to come up with gift ideas for our upcoming wedding. While I was on Pinterest, looking at DIY gifts, I came across DIY soy candles.

Instantly I thought this would be a great gift just for random holidays like Easter or Mother's Day, but also to give at our rehearsal dinner for everyone. After looking at some directions I realized how easy it was to do, and decided to make some soy wax candles for Mother's Day for my mom and Lauren's mom to test out how they worked. Well, judging by the fact that I'm now sharing this today, my homemade soy candle was a hit!

One thing about soy candle making is in the short-term you will have to spend a little bit of money, but if you love candles and like DIY gifts, in the long-term you will save money as opposed to buying them. Hey, you could even turn it into some extra money and sell them at farmers markets on the weekend! The biggest expense is buying the fragrance oils but you want to buy from a reputable place that has fragrances that actually smell like what they say they will. From my experience The Flaming Candle Company is the best and is what I continue to use to this day.

The directions below will show you how to make soy candles, but I'm also sharing how to use a glass cutter to make a wine bottle a container for your candle. This is not necessary however. You can just buy something at Michaels if you prefer. So give these soy candles a try.

Soy Candles Shopping List

Bottle of wine with flat bottom (Enjoy the wine!)
1 pound soy wax 464
1 large wick with metal base (size wick depends on diameter of container)
1 oz fragrance oil (I use The Flaming Candle Company)

Tools

How to Make Soy Candles:

Step 1:
Buy and drink a bottle of wine with some of your dearest friends!

Step 2:
Wash out and use the glass cutter to make a container that you can use for your candle. Keep in mind the directions I'm giving are for the glass cutter I use, but each glass cutter has different directions.

Step 3:
Place the glass cutter at the height you want to cut off.

Step 4:
Slowly move the cutter around the glass, as it scores the glass. Once you hear a click as the glass has been completely scored all the way around you stop.

Step 5:
Alternate pouring ice cold and boiling water on the wine glass until it breaks. Be careful here. I wear eye protection just in case something chips off.

Even though I didn't do it, it's probably wise to have a towel at bottom of sink when glass breaks as it might shatter when it hits sink. Something to keep in mind is it takes quite a bit of practice to be able to get a perfect clean cut every single time. I still sometimes have imperfect cuts, but hey it's homemade!

Step 6:
Sand the edges with 80, 150, and 220 grit sandpaper to make sure it's smooth and won't cut your fingers. NOTE - You can just skip these steps and buy a glass jar of some type that can hold 16 ounces of wax.

Step 7:
Bring a pot of water about 1 inch high to a boil over medium heat.

Step 8:
Pour 1 pound of soy wax in pouring pot and place it so it sits in pot of boiling water.

Step 9:
Wait until soy wax is completely melted and reaches a temperature of 185F.

Step 10:
Remove from heat and add in 1 ounce of fragrance oil. (The ratio to stand by for fragrance to wax is 1 ounce fragrance oil to 1 pound of wax) For this candle I used Cool Citrus Basil from Peak Candle Supplies. Stir for two minutes to make sure it gets incorporated.

Step 11:
Wait for wax to cool to 130-135F. It should take about 20 minutes.

Step 12:
While wax is cooling, glue a wick at the base of the cut wine glass or whatever container you are using. Use a clothespin to make sure the wick is straight and doesn't move.