DIY Character-Scented Candle :D
Your sense of smell is so powerful, it can transport you back to a childhood memory, an old friend, or the first time you heard that song that makes you cry. Pretty cool. Thatâs why I love to use scented candles when I write; using a scent to trigger my brain into writing mode can really aid in making the mental âmovieâ of my characterâs life crystal-clear, even helping me âhearâ and âfeelâ whatâs going on in their world more clearly than usual, too. Triggering your olfactory sense with a very particular smell just strengthens this experience!
1) Raid the Fragrance Aisle (drugstores & walmart/target will be cheapest.)
I bought this cologne because it smelled EXACTLY like how I picture my OC to smell like. It was super cheap at $13 for 3.5 oz. This one doesnât come with a spritzer head, but if yours does have a sprayer on it you can *usually* remove it with a pair of pliers. This will make it easier to add to the candle wax later.
2) Raid the Candle Drawer/Cabinet
Ideally, youâll want to start out with a brand new, unscented candle in a GLASS (not metal) container. (if you donât have any new ones, but a few old ones are lying around, Iâll be mentioning how you can swing this project anyway, so keep reading!) I chose this Bombay candle because I loved the fancy box it comes in. It will be an Experience every time I sit down to use it AND it keeps the dust off the top when itâs sitting on my desk. This candle is a soy candle, but regular wax will work just the same!
REMOVE any stickers on the bottom! They can stick to the bottom of your pot and burn. Usually they peel off the glass easily, but you can use a little lighter fluid if you have it on hand. Just make sure to rinse it off the glass afterwards because itâs (obviously) flammable, and weâre going to be turning up the heat.
This is a good time to put on some music, âcause youâre gonna be babysitting this thing for a while. Put the candle in a typical pot, whatever will hold it + enough water to cover it about Ÿ of the way comfortably without spilling over when the water starts to boil.
Turn the heat up to high to start with.
When it starts to boil (there are lots of bubbles, the candle might rattle a bit, but the water isnât White Rapids-level turbulent!!) turn it down a little. My electric stove has levels Lo thru 10 (high.) I turned it to about 7 for most of the time after initial heat-up.
If you have to use multiple candles to get enough wax for one new candle, youâll just have to repeat this process a few times, OR (if youâre patient and like taking the easy way outâbut who does?), you can freeze each of the candles in their glass containers overnight; then, the wax will pop right out and you can put all of the broken-up pieces into a new, large glass container and use this double-boiler method the exact same way.
This candle took about 45 minutes to liquefy. I used a pair of tongs (like what you use to flip a steak on the grill) to push it back to the middle whenever it rattled out of place.
4) Turn off the Heat, Grab the Wick, and Add the Smells
Still using the cooking tongs (but you could use a fork,) I fished out the wick. I added about 2 teaspoons of cologne to the melted candle, a half-teaspoon at a time until I liked the strength, then stirred it up with a wooden skewer, though anything disposable (like a straw) will work perfectly and keep the mess down. I then used a safety pin and a skewer to balance the wick in the middle.
I let the candle cool down until it was tolerable to touch, then removed it from the pot so it could sit in the cooler air on the counter.
Mine has freckles from the oil deposits of the fragrance. Donât worry if yours does, too. And make sure to trim the wick down to ÂŒ of an inch before lighting it or youâll have a bonfire!
Quick hack: If you donât have an untouched candle with a good wick, or youâre creating a candle in a taller container than the one it started out in, try to steal one from a candlestick that hasnât been too used up. You can pour hot water on it in a bowl to get it warm, let it sit, then take it out and gently pull from either end. Youâll eventually get the wick out. Then you can cut it to length and hang it in the new candle the same way we did with this one.
Use the wax toward your next candle project!
Donât panic if it looks like the candle wax will overflow while itâs becoming a liquid again. Liquid expands, solids contract. If for some reason any does spill over into the water, or if you need to spoon some out to make room for the fragrance like I did, itâs very easy to collect that wax off the surface of the water in the pot once itâs cooled down.
Clean anything wax-covered by soaking it in hot water and wiping off with a paper towel but DO NOT pour it down the sink.
Have a question? Need more help? DM me! Iâll see what I can do. (:
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