Taper Candle Making

Taper candles make for great decorative candles that can beautifully adorn your home this festive season. In fact, use these as Christmas candles while enjoying your favorite Christmas dinner to add to the entire festive spirit. Taper candle making is really a very simple process, and perhaps one of the best ways to get initiated into the art and process of candle making. All you need to do is follow some very basic instructions, and slowly you will be able to learn how to make new and unique candle styles with this basic design. After you master this art, you can create homemade candles to simply satisfy your creative desires, to add to the beauty of your own home, to give as great holiday gifts, or to simply start your own little business. Here's a look into the art of making taper candles, and ways in which it can be enhanced.

Supplies:

• Paraffin wax
• Candle dye
• Double boiler
• Candle wick
• Stick (Chopstick, Pencil, etc.)
• Dipping tin (any old, but tall metal container)
• Taper candle molds
• Metal spoon (to stir the wax)
• Aromatherapy scent (Optional)
• Thermometer
• Vegetable peeler

Instructions:

• Start by melting the wax in the double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler, you may melt the wax in a container placed in hot water. Do not melt the wax on direct heat under any circumstance. It can overheat and cause a fire. Place the thermometer in the container, and once the melted wax has attained a temperature of 70 ºC or 158 ºF, take it off the heat.
• If you wish to add color and fragrance to the candles, do it now. Stir the wax with a metal spoon, till the two have completely dissolved. Remember, while making scented candles, add a few extra drops of the scent as some of it will evaporate in the cooling process.
• Now, take the dipping tin, and carefully pour the melted wax into it.
• Take the wick, and cut double the length of the candle you want to make, plus another five inches, to make your candles. For instance, if you wish to make 20 cm tall candles, you will require 45 cm of wick.
• Take the chopstick or the pencil, and place it under the center point of the wick. This means, if you have 45 cm of the wick, place the chopstick roughly at 22.5 cm.
• Now lift the stick with the wick hanging off both ends, while ensuring that they are not too close to each other, and dip it in the wax. Keep the stick about two and a half inches away from the wax, and be careful not to burn yourself. Allow the wick to remain in the wax for at least a minute. Remove it from the wax, but keep the candles over the container and allow them to harden.
• Keep dipping the candles back into the wax, until you achieve the desired thickness. However, when it comes to making taper candles, ensure that you do not dip the entire candle each time. This will help you attain the tapered shape you want. In case you find the candles to appear bumpy because of the dipping process, use a peeler to help them attain a defined shape, and then put them in hot wax at 83 ºC for the final dip. This will give them a proper shape, and have them look glossy too.
• If you think this process is too tedious, you may resort to the use of taper candle molds that are easy to use.
• Once they have slightly hardened, trim the bottom of the candle for a clean finish.
• Hang the candles to harden thoroughly, once you are done.
• Once ready, cut the wick to separate the two candles, and keep the length of the wick at 1 cm. Your candles are now ready to use.

While this is the method to make your own candles that are tapered, there are ways in which you can slightly jazz them up. One such style is a concept known as 'bleeding candles'. For this, you need to use a wax of two different colors, one of them being a deep red. In the initial dipping process, dip it in the deep red or the inner color. Once it has slightly hardened, dip the candle in the outer color, for instance, white or black. When this candle is lit, the internal red will melt and make it look like the candle is bleeding.

Taper candle making is a vast art, and it is only after you master the basics, can you take it to newer levels with your creativity and talent. Use this art to come up with newer ideas, and to express your creative self at its best.