Mason jar Candles look terrific lining the path up to your front door. They are practical, environmentally friendly and make great gifts. You can even make them yourself, if you’re handy with a few tools and a jar. Here’s some advice on making your own cheap Candles.
Most jar Candles use either paraffin or soy wax. Both are very good heat conductors, so they won’t heat up the room as your Candle burns. Mason jar Candles can be easily moved from room to room, and they have a very long lifetime, if they are properly taken care of. Some people like to leave their Candle unattended for a few hours, so that it doesn’t dry out. If you leave your jar Candles burning for this amount of time, you can expect to smell some smoke. Don’t worry, though; most burners come with a detector that will warn you if the flame has gotten too big, causing the smoke to go out.
When you’re ready to add your fragrances, you should place a burner at the bottom of your container. Most wax containers have holes at the bottom to let the air circulate around the inside. It is also helpful if you place your container on a table to keep it upright. It will be easier for you to add your scented oils if the flame isn’t directly above your scent. When it comes time to burn, it will be easier to light than if you were standing directly beneath the burning flame.
You also need to consider how long the jar Candles burn time will be. For most, it takes about fifteen minutes for a single Candle to burn, but you will get better results with shorter burn times. Trimming your wick is a good way to make the burn time go down. Just trim a few inches off of the wick when you first purchase it and then trim the rest later.
Finally, you’ll want to think about the color of your jars. Jars of wax in most colors come in white and clear. If you are making votive jar Candles, then choose a colored jar to correspond with the color scheme of the Candle. Clear wax jars lend themselves better to votive Candles, while colored wax jars can work well for pillar Candles.
For the wick to completely burn from one side to the other, it must travel across both pieces of wax. If the wick is a different size than the diameter of the jar, the flame will not cover the entire wick. That’s why you use two wicks. One will go across the center of the jar and the other across the outside. That way the wick gets all of the oxygen and heat it needs to travel from the bottom to the top.
