How to Make Your Own Candles - Votives

1. Spray inside of the votive mold with silicone mold release spray, if you are using it. To do this follow the directions on the Silicone Mold Release Spray, or hold the spray nozzle 8 to 10 inches from the votive mold and spray the inside with one or two short bursts.
2. Place votive mold open end up on the work surface, make sure it is a FLAT LEVEL SURFACE
3. If you are tabbing your own wicks, do that now. For instructions of how to tab a wick, visit our section on How To Tab A Wick
4. Place tabbed votive wick inside the votive mold. Try to get them at center, although during pour they will probably shift to one side a little.

NOTE: Some candle makers prefer to pour the wax first and place the pre-tabbed wick in the votive mold right after the wax is poured. The choice is yours. We advocate the pre-placement of wicks in the votive molds to reduce the chance of wax overflow and drips from the votive mold.

You will need either a steamer pot or deep sauce pan, and you will also need a melting pot with a pouring spout. These two items create a double boiler to melt down your wax.

Fill the bottom part of your double boiler (the steamer pot or the deep sauce pan) with about two inches of cool water, and place on the burner set to high temperature. Place pieces of wax to be melted into the melting pot with a pouring spout, set the melting pot in the water, and attend to it as the wax liquefies. (When the water begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium low or low.)

If you have a large block of wax and need instructions on how to safely break it into smaller pieces, please visit our section on Breaking Up Wax Blocks

When the wax is entirely liquid (i.e., when there are no solid chunks any longer in the pot) you have successfully melted the wax.

Our 130 degree votive candle wax melts at about 130 degrees F. The wax will continue to grow hotter as it remains in the double boiler. The temperature of the wax should get to 190 degrees F.

A simple double boiler using an old sauce pan and a meting pot with a spout.