Beeswax Candle and Heart Holder Tutorial

My daughters enjoyed making these hand dipped beeswax candles and salt dough heart candleholders.

For the Salt Dough -

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1/2 cup water

Knead together for about five minutes.

Roll out to the approximate thickness of your cookie cutter, about 1 - 1/2 inches thick and cut out hearts.

We chose to use a small heart to cut 3/4 of the way down into the heart to form the candle "holder".

We also baked and painted these little hearts.

After your candle holders are done, bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. The little hearts will be done sooner and will start to turn light brown.

When cooled - paint! We used acrylic paints.

Now on to the candles ~

Hand Dipped Beeswax Tapers

You will need:

Number 2 Wick (about 9 inches per candle)

6 ounces of beeswax

tin can (about six of small can of beans/soup)

(I have added a kit of 6 - one ounce bars of organic beeswax and 3 - nine inch lengths of cotton number two wick to our family's handwork shop.)

Melt the beeswax in a small tin can in a pan filled with about 2 inches of water that has been heated to near boiling. I added 3 of the of one ounce bars of beeswax until they melted and then added the other three bars. We heat our water on the woodstove, but a regular stove top is just fine.

After the wax melts, move your pan to a safe area for your child or children to work. Leave the can in the hot water. Tie the wick to the middle of a pencil, letting the majority of the wick hang down. Dip the wick into the can of wax and make sure it touches the bottom. Just move in and out in one fluid motion. Hold the wick over the pot for a moment to catch drips..

...and then have your child walk around a certain area to cool. I set up some chairs to walk around. After the first two dips you might want to help your child by straightening the wick just a bit.

Continue until candle is thick enough to fit into your handmade heart holder.

Enjoy!

Warm wishes,

Tonya