Oh happy at home: DIY candles

 

  

Images:

1. http://www.beadandcord.com/clipper/rachael.stevens.1366648/room-decor-9282/28097.html
2. http://bathnbody.craftgossip.com/diy-eco-friendly-soy-wax-candles/2012/01/04/
3. http://you-havent-done-nothing.blogspot.ca
4. http://media-cache-ec3.pinterest.com/upload/107734616056280487_7HCWIV9C_f.jpg

Before I moved across the country and had to seriously de-clutter my life of stuff, I was a candle fiend. Over the years I collected so many that I had storage boxes of them by the season! The problem with many of them, however, was that while they smelled amazing before being lit, the scent they gave off while burning tended to make me nauseous. Which explains my collection of half-used candles.

Later, I discovered that it wasn’t just me; candles made with paraffin wax release chemicals into the air while burning that can make you sick. In fact, the emissions they give off are compared to diesel engine fumes! Yuck. So, in light of this news about the dangers of paraffin wax (no pun intended), I am presenting you with pictures from a little DIY candle-making session my friends and I did with soy wax.

    

We settled upon making container candles, but there are great instructions for DIY-ing all kinds of candles at http://www.wicksandwax.com/instructions.htm.

If you’re in Vancouver and you’d like to make your own candles too, Homesteader’s Emporium is a great little shop that carries everything you need.

Happy candle-making everyone!