How to Make Gel Candles

Gel candles are fun and easy to make at home. How to make gel candles will show you how to create your own beautiful candles in just a few minutes.

Gel candles are fun and easy to make at home. How to make gel candles will show you how to create your own beautiful candles in just a few minutes.
Introduction
- Gel candles are made from a semi-solid gel (something like the consistency of Jello) rather than real wax. When you put the gel in a clear container, it looks almost like a waterscape complete with bubbles.
- The gel allows a candle maker to embed non-flammable objects in the candle to create frozen scenes that dance when lit. It's easy to make them at home, and you'll have a lot of fun doing it.
Step 1: Assemble Your Equipment
- It's best to get all of your materials together before you begin to heat your wax. You can find almost anything you'll need at large craft stores or online candle supply companies like Lone Star Candle Company, BrighterScents.com, and Bitter Creek Candle Supply, Inc.
1. Paper core wicks: Cored wicks have a core substance in the middle of the wick to help hold it upright. They're used in jar, pillar, votive, and devotional candles as well as gel candles. Your wicks will need wick tabs, a small disk that connects the wick to the bottom of the candle container. You can buy pre-tabbed wicks, but your candles may look better if you tab your own. See the manufacturer's instructions for how to attach tabs to wicks.
2. Sticky dots (optional): You'll need to use either sticky dots purchased at a craft store to attach the wicks to the containers, or just a little bit of the candle gel.
3. Gel wax: Gel wax isn't wax at all. It's a flammable mixture of oil and resin that you can buy from a candle supply store, as mentioned above.
4. Nonstick pot: A pot in which to heat the gel.
5. Heat-resistant clear glass container: This is the container that will hold the candle. It's best to buy containers specifically designed to hold candles, since glass that isn't properly heat resistant can shatter. You could make a candle in an opaque container, but half the fun of gel candles is creating frozen scenes embedded in the gel.
6. Thermometer: To monitor the gel's temperature.
7. Metal or plastic spoon: To stir the gel.
8. Liquid candle dye (optional): Buy dye specifically designed for gel candles from a candle supplier.
9. Fragrance (optional): Buy fragrance specifically designed for gel candles from a candle supplier.
10. Embedding materials (optional): Create frozen scenes in your candles with embedding materials. You can embed non-flammable and wax objects. Typical items include shells, marbles, glass figurines, and wax fruits.
Step 2: Attach a Wick to the Container
- If you put the wick into the container before you begin heating your gel, you won't need to worry about two things at once.
1. Attach a tab to your wick if you didn't buy pre-tabbed wicks.
2. Put a sticky dot or some of the candle gel on the bottom of your wick tab.
3. Stick the tab to the bottom of the container.
4. Cored wicks should stand on their own. However, if your wick doesn't, just make sure the top end of the wick remains out of the gel. Tie it to something to avoid burning your fingers.
Step 3: Melt the Gel
- Gel must be heated and then cooled to a lower temperature in a pot on your stovetop.
1. Heat your gel to between 203-221° Fahrenheit. Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature.
2. Add your fragrance (optional).
3. Add your color (optional).
Step 4: Pour the Gel
- You can pour the gel directly from the pot in which you heated it. The hotter the gel is when you pour it, the more bubbles you'll have in the candle. How many bubbles you want in your candles is up to you. Some people incorporate them as part of the decoration.
1. Reduce the temperature of the hot gel to between 185 and 205°.
2. Pour the gel into your pre-wicked container.
Step 5: Add Embedding Materials (Optional)
- You can embed non-flammable and wax materials in your gel candles to make it more decorative. People use shells, glass beads and other small glass objects, marbles, and special embedding sand. Even the air bubbles created as you stir and then pour your gel can act as part of the decoration. You can put in almost anything non-flammable. However, the gel is what fuels your candle, so don't overdo it.
Step 6: Let the Gel Cool
- Once your gel is cool again, you're ready to light it and enjoy!
Conclusion
- Gel candles are a lot of fun to make. Explore your own creativity by creating seascapes, desert vistas, or animal picnics with your embedding materials. When you're all done, give them away to friends or display them in your kitchen.
Resources for How to Make Gel Candles
- GelCandlemaking.com
- About.com: Make a Mug Gel Candle
- Bitter Creek Candle Supply, Inc.: Gel Candle Supplies
- BrighterScents.com
- BrighterScents.com: How to Make Gel Candles
- CandleMakerSupplies.com: Gel Candlewax Candles
- eHow: How to Make Gel Candles
- Lone Star Candle Supply: Gel Supplies