How to make DIY gel candles? Master class on making gel candles

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:47

Traditionally, candles are lit to create a special mood and entourage. This is an indispensable attribute of family or romantic evenings, and the atmosphere in which there is a flame of fire is always cozy and romantic.

In addition to their direct purpose, candles are used as interior decorations. They give it a special personality, and if chosen with taste, then refinement.

Candle story

Historians believe that the first candles appeared in ancient Egypt, they were made from papyrus, which was previously wetted in fat.

Much later, already in China, Japan and India, wax was used in the production of candles. True, it was extracted from insects and plants. But the most common material for a long time was fat, which mercilessly smoked and smelled bad.

In the 18th century, a viscous substance was used as a raw material for candles, which was extracted from the head of a whale, and only in the 19th century was paraffin discovered.

Gel candles

Recently, a gel candle has gained well-deserved popularity. The gel does not hold the shape, but fills it, which is why such a candle differs from the classic paraffin counterpart, first of all, by the candlestick. As it can be used small vases, wine glasses and glasses. Gel candles are more economical, burn much longer, without smoke and smoking.

And besides, they are amazingly beautiful! Depending on the size of the container, entire decorative compositions can be created inside it, whether it is the seabed or an outlandish garden.

The vessel into which the gel is poured is decorated in various ways:

• artificial flowers, figurines or figurines;
• elements of marine decor, which can be multi-colored sand, shells, pebbles, starfish;
• dried pieces of fruit such as orange or lemon, cinnamon sticks or spices, coffee beans;
• all kinds of beads, beads, glass stones;
• sequins.

Gel candle can be scented.

DIY

You can master the manufacturing process yourself, a master class will help. Gel candles, decorated according to the occasion, serve as a wonderful gift. It will be exclusive, as the products are made in a single copy.

For lovers of needlework, making gel candles will be another hobby in the piggy bank or a reason to spend time with children in a pleasant and useful way. And if you take it seriously, you will be able to put your crafts up for sale.

Candle based on ready-made gel

To begin with, let's look at how do-it-yourself gel candles are made from purchased material - a jelly-like transparent environmentally friendly gel made from natural ingredients. You can buy it in specialized stores for creativity.

Manufacturing technology is reduced to heating the gel to a liquid state and filling the prepared form.

Important points, necessary materials and fixtures

Gel is very important not to overheat, otherwise it will become cloudy. The melting point is about 60-80 degrees. It is necessary to heat over low heat, you can use a water bath - so there is less chance that the gel will burn.

As a container for a candle, glassware is best - it should be transparent, clean and wiped dry. There may be a small pattern on the walls. You should not use containers with a narrow neck: firstly, it is difficult to pour the gel there, and secondly, the walls should not heat up from the flame so as not to burst, so the diameter of the neck must be at least 5 cm. Before pouring the gel, dishes are recommended warm it up a little - so it will not burst from the temperature difference.

It's easier to buy a ready-made wick, and better reinforced, which keeps its shape, or you can remove it from an ordinary candle by carefully cutting off the paraffin. But if you decide to make gel candles with your own hands, try making your own wick.

Also as materials you will need tweezers, heat-resistant dishes for heating the gel.

Dyes are added if there is a desire to master the manufacture of gel candles of different colors. You can use special food coloring or a color-rich gel thatdilute the base while heating.

Decor elements must be chosen heat-resistant - they must withstand the temperature of the molten gel.

How to make a wick

A natural fiber, such as cotton or linen, is suitable for the wick. Color looks original, for example, floss. It is easy to check whether it is really natural if you set fire to the tip of the thread. If it burns, the material is suitable, and if it melts, then it is not.

Next, the threads need to be twisted, and it is important to calculate the thickness. A wick that is too thick creates a large flame that will melt the gel around if the candle is small. And thin, respectively, will give a small fire, which will fade.

In order to make gel candles with your own hands, you will need thin threads and tight weaving. Alternatively, you can braid or crochet a chain. But there is no exact recipe. The wick should be soaked with a special solution: 2 tablespoons of table s alt and 4 tablespoons of borax are dissolved in warm water with a volume of 1.5 liters. The threads are soaked for 15 minutes and dried thoroughly. Then the wick must be immersed several times in melted wax or paraffin and dried again.

Step One

Fill the prepared containers, which will serve as a candlestick, with decorative elements. Of course, everything here depends on the author's imagination, but several points must be taken into account:

• It is better to place "treasures" at the bottom closer to the walls of the vessel, so you can see them better;
• decorative elements can beglue, then they will not pop up;
• the distance from the wick to the decorative elements must be at least one centimeter.

Step two

If the gel is melted in a water bath, then pour water into a large container with a flat bottom and put on the stove. Already in it place a small vessel in which the gel will be heated. It is very oily to the touch, so we shift it with a spoon so as not to get dirty once again. It is necessary to ensure that water does not get into the container, otherwise the gel will deteriorate, and all work will be in vain.

Direct production of gel candles begins with heating the base. Stir it with a spoon until all the lumps are dissolved, make sure that it does not boil. After the gel has become liquid, gently fill the bottom of the mold with a thin stream until the jewelry is completely covered. Let the gel set.

Now you need to fix the wick, for this its end can be tied to a pencil or clamped between disposable wooden sushi sticks before they are broken in half. This design must be placed on the upper rim of the container strictly in the middle.

Third step

The gel cools down very quickly, so it needs to be reheated. You can add aromatic oils other than rose.

Do you want to know how to make a colored gel candle? It's time to add the dye, but do not put too much of it so that the color does not turn out dark. Fill in the second layer of gel. And ifit is tinted, you get a two-color candle. By using several dyes, it can be multicolored.

By adding a colored gel to the first layer that has not yet completely solidified, you can get interesting effects: inject the gel with a medical syringe in the form of balls or move it inside, creating spirals. The form in which gel candles, made by hand, have not yet frozen, can be rotated and turned. This trick allows one color to blend into another.

Fourth step

How to make a gel candle with your own hands, inside which decorative elements will “float”? When the second layer is already non-liquid, but not frozen, it's time to drown plastic beads or fish figures inside to simulate an aquarium.

The gel is hot, and in order not to burn yourself, decorative elements should be placed or moved with tweezers. If a reinforced wick is used, it should also be installed in a practically cured gel. Cut off the tip of the wick after a few hours. The candle is ready!

Make the gel yourself

So, we told you how to make gel candles with your own hands. Craftsmen's recipes also contain information on how to make your own candle base.

This requires gelatin, glycerin and tannin. The last two ingredients can be bought at the pharmacy.

To obtain a colorless gel, add 40 ml of water to 10 g of gelatin and leave until it swells, add 50 g of glycerin there. This mixture shouldheat over low heat until the ingredients are completely dissolved, but do not boil.

While the first composition is cooling down, let's prepare the second one. To do this, mix 20 g of hot glycerin and 4 g of tannin. If the solution becomes cloudy, the transparency can be restored by boiling. Then we add one mixture to another and get a gel that can be used to fill candles.

With and without air bubbles

As the gel heats up, air bubbles form. You can leave them and even increase their amount if you actively stir the gel with a whisk.

How to make a gel candle without bubbles? It happens that they are not needed, but still appeared. Place the finished candle in a warm oven or on a sunny window sill - under the influence of heat, excess air will go away. Preheating the container also prevents bubbles from forming.

Interesting ideas

Want to make your own unique gel candles? Photos showing interesting finds will help with this.

Gel, tinted with yellow dye and whipped with a whisk, after hardening looks like champagne, especially if you choose a tall glass as a candlestick.

And if, in addition to the transparent gel, you use melted white paraffin, you can make a souvenir beer mug.

Place a spruce branch, a few cones in the gel - you get a great Christmas candle. To make it sparkle, stir finely chopped tinsel or rain in a hotgel.

Each candle will be original, because it will be almost impossible to repeat it.