Best Ways to Make Amazing Votive Candles

Whether you’ve been making candles for a while or you’ve recently just got involved in the fascinating hobby and trade—you can probably agree that votive candles are arguably one of the easiest kinds of molded candles to make. Not only are they easy—they are also wonderful to look at, and they burn nicely given the right waxes.

Getting Started

A properly crafted votive will liquefy to some degree as it burns. This is necessary to achieve good scent throw. As you may already know, votive candles are not intended to be free standing candles; therefore, it’s necessary to burn your votive candles in a votive candle holder. So, with that in mind, here’s what you’ll need to get started.

• Wax suitable for votives
• Wax additives
• Fragrance oil (depending on what scent you’re aiming for, you can choose between a variety of synthetic or natural essential oils and fragrances).
• Dye (Depending on what type of candles you’re making, you may want to consider dye to add to your candles décor factor.
• Pre-tabbed wicks suitable for votives (36-24-24 zinc core used here)
• Thermometer
• Metal Votive Molds
• Mold release spray
• Pouring pot

Step 1:  Prepare your melted wax mixture.

You should be able to review these instructions while your wax is melting. Before continuing, set up a double boiler to melt your wax. Note that a good target temperature for votives is 175° F. Once your wax has completely melted, add any additives you have selected and mix thoroughly. Know too that you’ll want to avoid having air penetrate your mixture.

A Pinch Of This And A Dash Of That: Add these Ingredients In The following order:

1. Additives such as vybar or stearic acid (but only if needed)
2. Fragrance Oil
3. Dye (this is done last so that you get visual confirmation that everything else has mixed well with the wax)

Before pouring your wax, you may want to lightly coat your molds with a very thin film of mold-release agent such as silicone spray or a Pam-type cooking spray. Much like any other cooking project, you’ll want to make sure that you r candles don’t stick to the molds after they harden.  

Step 2: Initial Wax Pour

Place your votive molds on a newspaper-lined surface to catch any spills. You’ll want to make sure that your wax is at the proper pouring temperature, which is about 175° F. After your wax is the right temperature, fill your votive molds to the lip of the mold. Note, if you pour to a level lower than the lip, you may get seam lines in your finished candle, so you should pour with care in order to minimize the number of bubbles introduced while pouring.

Step 3. Add Pre-tabbed Wicks.

After you’ve poured the mold, you’ll want to wait for your wax to cool for a short period of time. While it is cooling, prepare your wicks by straightening them. Once the wax begins to congeal, you’ll want to insert your pre-tabbed wicks. The tab will "stick" to the bottom when it touches.  If you have any doubts, know that at the temperature of the congealing point—the wax is cool enough that it will not interfere with the firmness of the primed wick.  After you’ve inserted the wick, you’ll want to allow your wax to completely cool for about 3 hours.

Step 4: Re-pour Wax

When the wax has completely cooled, you may notice a bit of shrinkage, which may even leave a sink hole that needs to be filled. If this is the case, melt down the wax that you saved from step 2 above. This time, your target pouring temperature will be 10-15 degrees hotter than the initial pour (pour at about 190 deg. F for this step). This increased temperature is to facilitate adhesion between layers.