Supplies
Tools
- 2 saucepans for making a bain marie
Materials
- Gel for the candles
- Dye
- Transparent container
- Wick with a metallic base + glue + toothpicks OR a wick stiffened with paraffin + needle
- Nonflammable objects such as stones, sand, shells, or pieces of glass
Directions
Prepare the gel for the gel candle
- Melt the gel in the bain marie, paying attention not to get any water in the gel.
NB: To clean saucepan afterward, allow the gel to cool and then carefully peel it off.
- Gradually add the dye until you have the desired shade.
Assemble the gel candle
- Glue the base of the wick to the bottom of the container and keep the wick straight with the help of 2 toothpicks, 1 placed at each side of the container.
- Pour the gel into the container.
- Alternative method for inserting the wick:
- Take a wick without a metallic base and dip it into melted paraffin to make it stiff.
- Heat a needle with a candle and stick it into the cold gel. Take it out again and in its place insert the wick.
Tips
Air bubbles
You cannoit avoid them, so try to produce even more (e.g. for candles with a special aquarium look or a champagne glass)!
- Heat the gel, stir it and fill it in a very cold glass to increase the difference in temperature. Then let the candles cool down quickly (e.g. by water quenching with ice).
- Or to get rid of as many airbubbles as possible, do it the other way round and try moreover to pat the container so that the air bubbles go up where you will puncture them.
Coats in different colors
- Pour a coat in a container and let it cool completely. Then pour the next coat on the previous one and let it again cool down completely.
Inclusion of decorative elements
- Place the decoration in the container and souse it with the gel.
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