Even with no experience, it was fairly simple to figure out.

I got started making ‘em myself because I worked in a bath & body boutique, and got totally hooked.  Unfortunately, the ones I liked best were expensive, such as Diptyque’s Baies, and pretty much all of Voluspa’s products (which aren’t too bad, but still a costly indulgence for someone fresh out of college with a BA in “General.”)

What do you know?  It was actually really easy to make a basic soy container candle just as good as the ones on the market.  The product itself is really basic — the rest is just packaging and “brand experience.”  There is some practice and technique involved, but the basic process is really easy: melt wax, insert fragrance, pour.

Get started making your own.  Free skill-share PDF!

So now, I am proud to offer my newest PDF, which is a FREE tutorial on how to hack up basic soy candle tea lights.  Yes, hack up — as in, quick and dirty, for the people who just want to try soy candle making without investing in a lot of materials.  You won’t make sellable-quality candles right off the bat, but you will get some high quality tea lights that are perfectly usable.

I chose tea lights because they’re cute, easy, and don’t take long to harden.  Instant gratification, right?  I think tea lights are the best way to get started, but if you want to make bigger candles, you can certainly jump in.  It’s the same process.

The tutorial is 17 pages, but most of them are photos. I cover a lot of topics very lightly:

1. What you need for ingredients and equipment
2. Prep and process
3. Cleanup and storage of your candles
4. What fragrances to start with, if you have no ideas
5. Friendly suppliers with low minimum orders and reasonable shipping
6. Special recommendations for seasonal scents (and what not to do…)

Can you also make jar candles or candle tins with this method?
In response to the most common question: you can easily adapt this tutorial to making candle tins, votive candles, or glass jar candles, but there are additional techniques involved. Feel free to experiment, though! You can use an old tin can or jelly jar to start, or reuse your old glass containers left over from your $65 Baies candle…  That’s what I did, and it worked out great.

How to download the instructions:
To get the instructions sent as an attachment, just fill out the form below to join the Soy Candle Members.  If I make any significant changes to the tutorial or find out some more good resources for candle making, I’ll send out an email to the members. I’ve already had requests for more information on making wax tarts (flameless candles), and I’m scouting out at least a good website on it.

Don’t worry — I only mail out when I have something to say.  Usually, this is about once every two weeks, if that, and the emails are pretty short.  But if you just want the PDF and don’t want to get email, you can always just unsubscribe from the membership list as soon as you get it.  No big deal.

Enter your name and email here:

The original Excellent Living Guide started as just a little site to teach bath bomb making, and soon grew to be a resource for baby-beginners to get started makin’ all kinds of cool stuff — bath bombs, bath salts, lotion, shower gel, etc.

Now, I want to open the site up even more to other aspects of frugal and excellent living, such as creative children’s activities (that aren’t dependent on plastic toys, electronics, or the TV), staying healthy, other people’s site spotlights, and cool stuff like that.

I hope you stay tuned for the new site.  In the mean time, you can visit the old one.  The email still works, and the mailing list is alive and well with over 5000 members!  In fact, you can join right here:

Make stuff and prosper!
- Katherine