How to Make Colored Candles With Food Coloring

Making candles for gift-giving is a great hobby.

Learning to make candles is an excellent hobby for both kids and adults. Whether you make container candles, votives or tapers, you can add color and scent along with your artistic sense to create lovely candles for yourself or as gifts. Candle-making is an art that's been in existence for centuries. A variety of different types of waxes are used -- such as beeswax, paraffin and soy-based wax -- each resulting in slight variations in the finished product.

Things You'll Need

• Candle-making or candy thermometer
• Slow cooker or double boiler
• Popsicle sticks
• Drill
• Hot glue gun
• Hot glue sticks
• Candle wax -- enough for your desired quantity of candles
• Essential oils (optional)
• Candle dye
• Wicks
• Gloves or cooking mitts
• Straws
• Glass jars with lids -- enough for your desired quantity of candles
• Glass measuring cup
• Wooden clothes pins
• Newspaper

Instructions

1. Cover your working surface with foil or newspaper, to protect it from burns and discoloration.

2. Plug in your glue gun and heat a glue stick for later. Make sure you have newspaper under the glue gun, to catch any leaks.

3. Drill a small hole in the center of each Popsicle stick, using a drill. The hole should be slightly larger in diameter than your wicks. Do this with one stick per jar. Set them aside for later.

4. Melt the wax in the slow cooker or double boiler, after measuring the amount you’ll need based on your desired finished size and quantity -- per the label's instructions. Attach a special thermometer for candle-making or a candy thermometer to the side of the pot.

5. Heat the wax to 160 degrees F. Make sure the temperature doesn’t get higher than 180 degrees F, because it can become a fire hazard.

6. Warm the glass containers in the oven, set to 150 degrees F. Heating them prevents them from cracking when you pour in the wax, and allows the wax to better adhere to the sides of the container.

7. Add coloring to your wax when it reaches about 170 degrees F. Follow the label directions regarding how much to add for the amount of wax you're melting.

8. Stir the color into the wax for a full 2 minutes, to make sure they bond properly.

9. Test the color by drizzling a few drops of wax onto a white paper towel or napkin. Allow it to dry to see the final color. Add more dye, if necessary.

10. Add scent with essential oils or candle fragrance, if you prefer scented candles. Use 1 ounce of fragrance or essential oil per pound of wax for highly scented candles. Use less fragrance, if you prefer a more subtle scent.

11. Stir again for 2 minutes. Maintain the temperature at about 170 degrees F.

12. Remove the glass candle containers from the oven, with your gloves or cooking mitts on to prevent burns.

13. Slide the wick into a straw, and add a dollop of hot glue to the bottom of a wick tab. Center the wick tab in the bottom of a jar, using the straw. Then remove the straw, leaving the wick glued to the jar.

14. Warm the glass measuring cup and dip it into the wax, which should be at about 170 degrees F. Pour the wax slowly into each jar, leaving about 1/2 inch at the top to allow for the lid.

15. Tighten the wick by pulling it up through the hole in one of the Popsicle sticks. Rest the stick horizontally on the top of the jar, and clip the end of the wick with a wooden clothes pin to hold it in place as the wax hardens. This keeps the wick straight rather, than allowing it to settle through the hardening wax.

16. Allow your candle to cool completely. Depending on how big it is, it may take up to 16 hours to fully cool.

17. Melt the leftover wax to about 180 degrees F to prepare it for the second pour. Carefully pour in the wax to fill the sink hole in the center, and stop pouring when the level is about 1/16 inch above the first pour.

Tips & Warnings

• The best option for this project is candle dye, made especially for coloring candles. Liquid food coloring is water-based, so it may not mix well with wax. Some food colorings come in paste form and are available where cake-making supplies are sold, as well as in craft stores. These food colorings have emulsifiers added to help them mix with fats in icings and are a better choice for candle-making, if you don't have candle dye.

• Be prepared for the wax to sink in the middle of the jars after the first pour. This is normal. You’ll need to do a second pour, or topping off, to level the wax and finish filling the jar.

• Fragrance burns off when the temperature reaches about 205 degrees F, so keep your temperature under control.

• Wax that is overheated can explode and cause fires. Be very careful about controlling the temperature of the wax as you work.