4 - Making garden candles
Supplies:
- Paraffin for outdoors
- Stearin
- Earthenware or glass jar
- Fuse
- Wing support + double-sided sticker
- Smell
- Food coloring.
- Thermometer
- Melting kettle
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Garden candles bring the coziness of indoors outdoors. A garden candle is also ideal for using up all the leftover candle residue. The black smoke from reusing paraffin will leave marks on walls, which can be a result of reused paraffin indoors.
Ratios of stearin and paraffin
With candle remains
When making your first candles, you'll likely use candle scraps you had yourself or received. Because we don't always know the composition of candle scraps, I recommend using the following proportions. It's also crucial to thoroughly clean the candle scraps first. Melt the candle scraps and pour them through a fine-mesh metal sieve, lined with a paper towel to remove any impurities and old wicks.
Mixing ratio:
50% candle residue
50% new paraffin
10% stearin = of the ratio of candle residues/paraffin.
Prepare the mold for casting the garden candle.
1. Heat the paraffin to the melting point ± 68°C.Keep the temperature as low as possible or until the paraffin becomes liquid.
The lower the temperature, the less the paraffin will shrink and the better it will adhere to the shape of the pot.
Add a scent like citronella or lavender.
2 Prepare the wick using the wick clamp. 
You can use a double-sided sticker, but I find it easier to pour a base of liquid paraffin and then, after the paraffin has hardened, tighten the wick.
4. Pouring the candle into the mold is important. Because of the thick, unwaxed wick, you'll need to pour over it. Pouring over the wick allows the paraffin to saturate the wick better, ensuring the candle burns steadily and doesn't "dance" while burning. Air in a wick/candle makes the candle unstable, and it will smoke and go out with a slight gust of wind. Our wicks are braided so that the wick easily absorbs paraffin.
Finally:
Enjoy burning your own homemade garden candle.
Important:
- Cover the work surface and wear an apron!
- When pouring, make sure the pot is level and on a firm surface.
- Prepare only as much color as you need.
- Check the temperature of the wax with a thermometer.
Warning:
- Only light candles in the presence of adults.
- Beware of fire: never heat the wax directly in the mould.
- Never heat the wax directly in a pan or over an open fire.
- The wax vapour is flammable at 180°C.
- Never leave candles burning unattended.
- Always place candles on a fireproof surface. (See our safety instructions .)
