How To Make DIY Candles, According To The Pros

There’s nothing like lighting a candle that smells of warm spices or fresh balsam pine in the winter months. And while the most convenient option is to pick up a candle from your closest big-box store, professional candle makers told HuffPost that it might be worthwhile to start making your own.

Angel Vu, founder and creator of Blow Me Candle Co., said “Mass produced candles just don’t have that human love and touch. There’s just something about ‘homemade’ candles that light a little warmer, a little brighter than your corporate candle. Not to mention, a lot of corporate candles produce carcinogens and do not burn as clean and slow as handmade candles. Once you go handmade you won’t go back. Trust me.”

London Tierney of Particle Goods began her homemade candle career after realizing store-bought candles were actually worsening a chronic sinus condition that she had been battling for years.

“I am incredibly scent sensitive and believe that many mass-produced candles are made with cheap and irritating ingredients,” Tierney said. “Because regulations for candles are quite different than cosmetics, the labeling can be very confusing or misleading. For example, a manufacturer only has to disclose 51% of the wax composition (type) on the label. This means that if a candle is a soy/paraffin blend, but the paraffin is less than 51%, it can simply be labeled as a pure soy candle.”

Aside from ingredient transparency and complete product control, the interactive process of measuring and melting wax, developing completely customized scent blends and choosing your own containers can be a creative outlet and may also be unexpectedly therapeutic.

For Lex Dascoli, founder of Vibes Candles and The Wooden Wick Co’s “Next Top Candle Maker” for 2021, making candles was a way to create light in a dark time.

“To honor my mom and find my own comfort after her passing, I decided to make a special candle. Growing up, my parents always had candles burning and we all loved the mood and good vibes they brought to a room. This memory, along with my natural gravitation towards creativity as an outlet, made creating this candle feel so right,” Dascoli wrote on her website.

But before you begin melting some wax in a pan, Erica Boucher, the owner of Memory Box Candle Co. who has her own candle tutorial YouTube channel, reminded us that candle making is still very much a science.

“Little changes, such as temperature or the size of the wick, could make a huge difference in the outcome and performance of the candle. I like to say that candle making is a lot of trial and error, but once you get a good combination of wax, fragrance and wick— it’s the best feeling!” Boucher said.

To craft your own candles or give a thoughtful handmade gift to others, see what our candle making experts said you should have on hand.