DIY Candle Making: Everything You Need for Eco-Friendly Smell Goods

One of the most comforting yet accessible luxuries out there is a nice candle. It’s like a mini fireplace for a much cheaper price, releasing all their gorgeous scents. However, there is a deceptively harmful aspect to candles most people don’t realize that could motivate you to get into DIY candle making. What are the climate side effects to conventional candles and how do DIY alternatives alleviate a few burdens from the planet?

Why Should You Create Your Own Candles

Candles are by far from the most environmentally damaging self-care and decorative nicety, but it’s important to know the facts. How could a candle be bad for the planet?

Resource Extraction

Most candles and store shelves are made from paraffin wax, which comes from fossil fuels. This means you’re burning fossil fuels every time you light the wick. It may not smell like a gas station, covered up by vanilla or sage, but the wax is nonrenewable and produces greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon Footprint

The market size for candle sales might reach $14 billion by 2030, and they increase every year around the U.S. holiday season. When most of these are not sustainable candles, you can imagine the collective emissions the candles represent with air pollution and petroleum inclusions.

Air Quality

Burning materials from cooking and candles represent 65% of indoor air pollutants. There is a mixture of carcinogens like toluene and soot from the combustion. While these factors predominantly damage indoor air quality, the pollutants can seep outdoors and affect nearby areas.

Waste Generation

Many candles come in glass containers, and glass is infinitely recyclable. Some even include excess cardboard sleeves, stickers, and plastic lids. However, many facilities require people to clean out the vessels before disposing of them. Most people don’t take the time to scrape out the little bit of wax the wick can’t burn, which also leads to more waste.

What Benefits DIY Candles Bring

If you want a home that is less polluting and refuses to support a chemical- and fossil fuel-based industry, DIY candle making is the way to go. Natural ingredients like beeswax from ethical apiaries eliminate oil dependence. 

If you want a vegan option, choose ethically sourced soy or palm oil. Some of the most toxic ingredients are fragrances, and you can choose better alternatives to these too to live healthier. You have agency in choosing no toxic additives and sustainably sourcing everything.

Creating your own candles and using, reusing, or recycling every aspect of it also reduces waste. You can put candles in old food jars or tins and keep repurposing them forever. The materials you need also have minimal packaging, which, if you’re savvy, can include all recyclable or reusable elements, too.

You can also have more control over your scents. Are you tired of scents being too strong? Adjust recipes to your liking without wasting your money and resources on a smell you don’t even like that much.

Additionally, making candles at home uses a lot less energy than commercial outfits. If you have renewable energy, all the better — you can make no-energy candles. Plus, you don’t have to add to the problem by transporting heavy glass across the globe to big box stores. You use less fuel and resources this way, too.

All of these benefits culminate into deepening your relationship with more sustainable practices and buying fewer products with a negative impact.

What You Need for DIY Candle Making

Here is a simple, short list of items to get started.

Eco-Friendly Wax

You want renewable, biodegradable, and clean-burning wax. Avoid anything with paraffin in the description and find words like soy, beeswax, or palm.

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Wicks and Holders

Wicks don’t have to be made of wood. You can also nab cotton or hemp options if that’s what you prefer. However, you also need something to hold it in place when you pour in the wax. You can DIY one from a popsicle stick, or buy a reusable metal holder.

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Containers

You should be able to find or reuse glass containers from your home! If you have old candles lying around or cleaned-out food containers, these are the most eco-friendly option.

Fragrance Oils

Not all oils are made with sustainability in mind. Make sure you buy from a local seller or from verifiable ethical resources.

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Double Boiler

You’ll need this to safely melt your wax. If you don’t want to purchase one, you can simply put a heat-safe, melt-resistant bowl over a pot of boiling water to simulate the effect.

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Thermometer

This stops the wax from burning. Don’t use medical thermometers and instead get one that’s best served for kitchen applications.

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Kitchen Scale

If you want to make sure your ingredient distribution is correct, get a kitchen scale if you don’t have one already and are referencing an online recipe.

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Safety Gear

This could include kitchen goggles, silicon gloves, aprons, and more. 

How to Start DIY Candle Making

Most recipes follow the same process but require different ingredients. Don your safety gear, and get started!

First, measure and melt the wax. Use the double boiler method to make sure it doesn’t burn. Using you thermometer, make sure it reaches around 175 degrees Fahrenheit.

Then, you can add fragrance to the liquefied wax. This is entirely up to you and your preferences. A hard and fast rule is not existent, especially because different scents and brands carry varying potencies. This would also be the time to add organic ingredients, like dried herbs or coffee grounds.

Grab the container that will hold your candle and prepare the wick in its holder. Dip the bottom in melted wax and secure it in the vessel.

Then, safely pour in the wax into the container, ensuring you don’t burn yourself, cover the wick, or spill. You can use a measuring cup with a spout or a metal pitcher for this.

Let it cool until the wax hardens. All you need to do after that is trim the wick, and you have a homemade candle!

DIY Candle Making Is the Perfect Cozy Hobby

Making candles at home is one of the best ways to keep a luxury everyone loves while having no negative repercussions on the climate. All you need is a few simple tools and some time, and your contribution to the climate crisis will lower even more.