Are you looking for a fun wax craft for the kids but don’t want to spend too much on candle making supplies? Or are you a seasoned candle maker looking to reduce your materials costs with easy upcycled materials? Come learn how to make your own candle molds from materials you probably already have on hand.
Candle Making Supplies
To save money on candle making supplies, it’s important to check your receipts and see where you’re spending the most money per item. For me, the most expensive is always candle molds!
To save money and to upcycle otherwise wasted materials, I learned how to make my own candle molds using different containers. In this article I’ve outline three basic types of DIY candle molds. If you’ve used something in place of a store bought mold with success, please leave a comment on this article for other readers (and me!) to try.
To get the free tutorial sheets that go with this article, simply join our newsletter family below and they’ll be sent to your inbox. Let me know if you have any questions!
Make your Own Candle Molds
The following are three ideas for upcycled candle molds that can be made from products you probably have in your recycling bin right now.
Be sure to thoroughly clean any container you decide to use for candle making. Residual grease, food bits or liquids will interfere with the finished product.
Upcycled Glass Jars
Glass makes a wonderful container for candles and you can use just about any kind you have on hand. When using glass, you don’t have to remove the candle from the container in order to burn it because glass is heat resistant. Consequently, glass jars are very easy to use for poured candle projects.
The most obvious choice for repurposing glass in candle making is to use a previously used glass candle container. You know you have some in your house somewhere! Those glass, lidded jars, with the embarrassed remnant of some seasonal candle still stuck in the bottom? You never did throw it out because you thought it had to be useful for something.
To Repurpose an Old Glass Candle Container:
- Dig out the wax and wash as much of the previous sticker off as you can (if it had one).
- Put the jar onto a jelly roll pan and put it in the oven. Set the oven temp as low as it will go and allow the glass jar to preheat with the oven to avoid breakage.
- Check on the container frequently, opening the oven slowly in case of breakage. As soon as the wax is melted enough to pour out, dump it into a foil-lined container. Allow the old wax to cool and set aside to make scented wax discs (see our book DIY Candles from Start to Finish for instructions). Or you can discard the old wax.
- With a paper towel in one hand and a hot mitt on the other, carefully wipe the remaining warm wax out of the container until it’s gone.
- If the wax starts to harden, just put it back in the oven for a minute to loosen up. Repeat as necessary until the container is clean.
- You may now use this far for another candle project.
Other glass containers that can be used for poured candles:
- Yogurt jars
- Baby food jars
- Quarter or half-pint canning jars
- Store bought jam or other condiment jars
- Salve and cosmetics jars
To be suitable, a glass jar must have an open mouth with no inward tapering. If the mouth of the jar tapers in, there will not be enough air flow to sustain the flame of your candle as it burns. If your jar had a lid originally, be sure to save it to cap your homemade candle and give as a gift.
Voila, brand new jar to use for a poured candle! To learn to make new candles from old candles, visit the link from 100 Dollars A Month.
Upcycled Plastic Bottles or Milk Cartons
Paper or plastic containers can be used as candle molds, if you plan to remove them from the mold for free-standing candles.
Any paper carton can be re-purposed into a candle mold, but the individual serving size cartons are probably the best. This is especially true if you’re making candles with kids, and don’t want to spend a small fortune in wax to make larger candles.
However, if you decide to go large and use something like a half gallon-size milk carton (big candle!), just make sure you use enough wick to keep it burning.
To learn more about making your own candle mold from a plastic container, please visit this link. The basic steps are:
- Cut off the top of the bottle.
- Insert a wick – using a candle wick with its own metal base will help keep the wick stable. If you need to create your own hole for a wick, the video can show you how – it’s simple, I promise!
- Pour in the wax and allow to cool.
FYI, those flimsy plastic water bottles aren’t thick enough to deal with the hot wax so don’t bother using them. You also don’t want anything too ribbed, or you’ll never get your candle out of the mold.
Make Your Own Cardboard Mold
Cardboard makes a very functional candle mold and it’s easy use!
Here’s how:
- Stand one toilet paper tube up onto a scrap square of cardboard. The size of the base cardboard isn’t important – just be sure that it’s big enough to stabilize the toilet paper roll.
- Using hot glue, secure the tube to the square base. Glue from the outside and press the toilet paper tube down firmly but gently.
- Allow the glue to dry completely – several hours, depending on your ambient temperature and humidity. The glue should be very firm*.
- Melt your candle wax and pour it into the mold, filling it about an inch from the top with melted wax.
- Insert a wick (see instructions below).
- Allow your candle to dry at least 24 hours before tearing away the cardboard mold.
Cardboard molds typically leave a hazy, or frosted, sheen on the surface of the candle. Buff with a soft cloth to finish off your candle.
Hot Wax Notes
*Paraffin wax made for candle making usually melts around 160F/ 71C. If you use high temperature hot glue to secure your mold, you shouldn’t have leaks. However, I’ve had the glue that holds the toilet paper tube together fail and cause leaks when pouring hot wax into my homemade molds.
Occasionally, the molds will also leak from the bottom in places where the glue wasn’t as thick, or when I’m too anxious to use my mold and the glue doesn’t have time to set up properly.
To avoid this, allow the melted wax to cool just a bit before you pour it into the molds. To hasten the cooling, stir the wax for a few minutes and allow it to breathe. Do NOT allow the wax to form a coating on top – you want the wax to cool just a bit but NOT re-set.
Once it reaches 140-150F/60-65C, pour it gently into the prepared molds.
To Insert a Wick
- Measure the length of wick needed by holding it up to the outside of your homemade mold. Use that measurement, plus an inch or two, and cut your wick.
- Pour the melted wax into the mold.
- Insert the wick into the mold until it reaches the bottom.
- Wrap the excess wick at the top around a small stick or a nail so that the wick is straight and touches the bottom of the candle.
- Place the stick or nail across the opening of the mold so that it balances on top and keeps the wick in the center of the mold for even burning.
A Note on Inserting Wicks:
The easiest wicking to use for control and straightness is zinc-wired wick. Not only will a wired wick give you more control over how straight your wick is, but it will also burn a little cleaner than a non-wired wick. A good place to look for wicks is at your local craft store or online – I’ve had good luck with Etsy sellers for candle making products.
If you don’t have wick with wire in it, there are two methods for ensuring your wick is straight and goes to the bottom or the mold.
Wrap the End of the Wick
Wrap the end of the wick securely around a small pebble or coin and place that in the bottom of your mold. You can pour the hot wax on and over it. The pebble will act like an anchor for your wick, keeping it straight.
Be sure not to pull to hard on the wick while the wax is still warm and pliable because this can remove your wick from the bottom of the mold. You don’t want your wick to end up halfway up your candle!
Tie the Knot
Alternatively, puncture the bottom of the candle mold with a small nail. Tie a knot at one end of the wick and feed the other end through the hold in the mold.
Secure the top of the wick as described in the instructions, keeping the wick straight. You’ll need a bit of candle mold clay or even glue on the underside of the mold surrounding the area where your knotted wick is placed or hot wax will leak out around the hole.
Non DIY Option
The easiest option for securing and strengthening the candle wick is to purchase pre-made wick tabs. Wick tabs are small metal discs with an opening for the wick to be inserted into and clamped closed. These tabs are very inexpensive and easy to use. They’re placed in the bottom of the candle mold and the wax is poured over them – easy peasy!
Wick tabs can be found in your local craft store or online where candle making supplies are sold.
The Why of Making Your Own Candle Supplies
If you’re new to candle making, the first thing you learn, apart from the fact that it’s really fun, is that it can be expensive. For one thing, it’s a bit addictive to take wax and wick and produce a real, usable candle. The more you make, the more candle stuff you need. Candle molds (for poured candles) are one of the higher-priced items.
So, before you dash to the craft store, go to your recycling bin to get your candle making supplies. You can make your own candle molds with upcycled materials and a hot glue gun.
Any bottle making suggestions
Thanks for stopping by, Tammy!
Do you mean, suggestions for how to make a bottle into a candle mold? I’m glad you asked because there’s a video hyperlinked in the post on how to make a mold out of a plastic bottle, but the link was incorrect and I wasn’t aware of the mistake. Since you’ve asked, I was able to fix it – thank you! If you look under the section “Upcycled Plastic Bottles or Milk Cartons,” you’ll find a link for the video tutorial.
Let me know if you have other questions and have fun with your candles!
Hi, would you be able to suggest an idea about how I would go about, making a taper candle mold, thanks in advance.
Good questions, Savanah! My first suggestion would be to learn to roll or dip candles, if you want tapers. It may take longer, but it will probably be less bother. If you happen to come across a sturdy cardboard tube that’s thin enough, that would certainly work. Just attach a bottom to it, as it details in the post. You can also purchase taper molds. If you make them a lot, it would be worth the investment. The molds are metal and re-usable.
Hope that’s helpful!
Thank you so much for that, I appreciate the suggestion it was really helpful
Thanks for this! I was about to buy a candle mold but have now decided to try making some candles out of old toilet paper rolls. Great way to put them to good use.
So glad it was helpful! Have fun with your candles!
You can make a lot of things out of toilet tissue rolls!!!!
What can you use for wicks if you don’t have any?
There are a few good blog post tutorials on how to make your own wick from cotton string – some more complex than others. You can also try your hand a wooden wicks – more online tutorials for that! The basic idea is that you use thin, dry wood soaked in oil and then trim them to size for your candle. It’s very worth learning to make your own, if you end up a happy candle nerd (which I confess to being).
Modern wicks are twined and soaked and engineered to not smoke and burn evenly, so they’re really good at what they do. You can buy spools in bulk, which can save you some money. You can also find wooden wicks for sale, if you’d like to experiment with store bought first.
Was that helpful? Need more ideas? Just let me know!
I tried the toilet paper roll with glue stick to seal the bottom to another piece of cardboard but when I poured the wax in, it melted the glue and poured out everywhere. Is there a trick to keeping the glue hard and not melt so the wax can set? It seems if candle wax get too cooled down, it will become somewhat lumpy looking. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
I’m so sorry you’re having a hard time, Pamela! My first guess is that, perhaps, the molds weren’t allowed to sit for 24 hours to cool completely? Is that the case? My second guess is that you might have low temp glue, which will melt at 260F, and that you might be overheating your wax. Paraffin will melt around 100F and bees wax at around 145F. Have you checked the temp of your wax?
I’m sure we can get this figured out between the two of us, if we put our heads together. I’m offline for a few more days with a large project and just happened to see this. May I check back with you when I get back?
Ok, I’m back, Pamela! Any updates or ideas on your end? How can I help?
Are you using 100% beeswax to make your candles, or a blend of beeswax and oil? What kind of wick is used in your egg carton candles? Those are so cute. 🙂
I usually use paraffin wax when I’m fiddling around with new molds or making a lot of candles at once, especially with children. Paraffin isn’t the greatest product (it is petroleum based), but it takes dye well and is economical. I use bees wax for special molds and tapers, especially if I’m giving them as a gift – it’s the best substance on earth. It is pricier, though.
You can add fragrance oil to your candles, if you’d like, but you won’t need it with bees wax because it has a wonderful fragrance all its own.
With the egg carton candles, I use paraffin with candle dye. You can also use melted crayons for color, in a pinch – they’re not as even or as tempered as actual candle dye, but they’ll make some fun colors.
Also, I can’t seem to use the Contact page to send you a question. There appears to be some kind of error on that page. I was wondering if the 12 Day of Christmas book is an e-book or hard copy.
I’m sorry the contact page isn’t working – we’re doing some website work and things are still wonky. The Christmas book is an e-book with printables – so, you can print it all off, or just the printable pages. I’m happy to send you a sample, if you’d like to see inside it. Just email me at tessa@homesteadlady.com.
Hi
I am looking to make a certain size candle for a holder. I got the holder years ago and they no longer make the candles for it. I need to make a 20cm round 10cm deep candle. Could i just do this with card/plastic and glue a strip into a circle and glue it to a base?
If that wont work i am keen for any suggestions you may have for this one 🙂 Thanks Ev
Yes, you should be able to create a cardboard mold for that size, just be sure to get the high temp glue for your glue gun. You could also do a dipped candle until it hits the right diameter. The mold would be faster, though! Depending on the type of wax you use and how well you dip the candle, a dipped candle that size might take an hour or so.
If you make the mold, be sure to use a thick tag board rather than traditional cardboard so that you can get a smooth shape. Use as much glue as you need!