We usually have a stash of beeswax candles in a drawer in the kitchen and some hanging in our laundry room too. I just love having them on hand! During our homeschool day, we usually have at least one candle burning in the house wherever we are working. It brings such a sweet feel of home and I love that beeswax helps cleanse the air in our home too. We’ve been dipping our own for years and I hope this becomes a fun tradition for you and your family as well.

Dipping your own candles is super easy but it’s taken me a few tries to get them just right. Click here for a link to my amazon storefront where you can find links to all the supplies you need to make these! You’ll need:

• beeswax (about 3 pounds or more)
• candle wicks
• wax warming pot
• larger pot to use as a double boiler
• pasta dryer (or other rack to hang them)
• pitcher for water
• Something heavy to use as a weight to tie at the end of the wick (I use these large hex nuts I found in my husband tools.

Once you have all the tools you need, start by putting your wax into the wax pot and then putting that into a large pot of water on the stove. It will take quite a while for the wax to melt completely so do this about an hour or so before you want to dip them. When the wax is melted, start by cutting some wicks to about 18inches, then tie the nuts (or whatever weights you have) to each end of the wick. You will be dipping two candles at once. If you don’t want to do two candles at once, just cut the wick about 9 inches long and dip one at a time. It’s just easier to dry then when you have two. If you only do one, you’ll have to tie them onto the dryer.

Now you’re ready to dip! Hold the middle of the wick and let the weights pull them down until you hit the bottom of the wax pot. Take the wick out of the hot wax right away and dip into the water. This will harden the wax immediately so that you can continue to dip more layers on top of each other.

Continue to dip the wick into the hot wax and water alternately until the candles are the size (thickness) you want them to be.

Because of the weights, you’ll notice when you dip them that they become too tall to go into the wax completely. At this time, you’ll want to let the candles go in diagonally so that each time you dip, they get covered with wax completely, all the way to the tip. Otherwise you’ll get a very funny shape!

Once the candles are the size you like, hang them on the pasta dryer and carefully cut off the weights on the bottom.

You’ll end up with a jagged edge like this. I just use my hands to take off any excess chunks and smooth it out a bit. Then dip once more in wax and water to give it a nice smooth finish. Hang them on your pasta dryer until completely hard.

Make sure to free the weights of any wax right away while it’s soft. I make a little pile of all that wax that comes off my weights and save it to add to the wax next time I dip candles. Don’t put them into the wax right away until you are finished dipping for the day or unless you want to return the pot to the heat and melt all the scraps down. They will take time to melt.

That’s it! Now you have beautiful homemade candles! I hope you make lots of them! If you do, make sure to tag @thehomegrownapple when you share on Instagram!