Friday, 3 Sep 2004
Celebrations of all
kinds fairly cry out for wine goblet candles and wine bottle
candles. In this tutorial we show you how to create your own custom wine
goblet candles from start to finish. You can of course scent your candle with
any of our hundreds of candle fragrances, and we offer a Merlot,
a Red
Wine, an Amaretto,
and a Champagne
candle fragrance to add extra oomph to your custom wine goblet candles. Use our
burgundy
or cranberry
colored candle dye chips for reds. Try Butterscotch
or Maple
colored dye for Amaretto. For white wines and champagne, forgo the candle dyes,
or use a little bit of Gold
or Ivory.
What You Will
Need - Supplies
One or more Wine
Goblet Shaped Containers
34-24
Cotton Core Wick or 44-20-18
Cotton Core Wick
Color
Dye Chips (optional)
Steamer
Pot or old Sauce Pan to create a double boiler
Standard
Size or Small
Size Melting Pot with pour spout
Wood
Stir Sticks, chopsticks, or something else to stir the wax
Plyers
How to Set Up
Your Work Area
Put down newspaper or
butcher paper on tables and countertops to catch spills and for easy cleanup.
Have paper towels and Wax
Remover on hand for cleaning stovetops.
Wrap stove burner bowls
in tin foil to catch drips of wax, and for easy cleanup
afterwards.
Prep your Wine
Goblet Container
Wipe any smudges
off the inside and outside of your wine
goblet. You can use Windex or just a dry paper towel to polish away any
fingerprints or smudges.
Tab your wick
in preparation for pouring your candle. If you do not know how
to tab a wick, visit our reference section for simple instructions
on How to Tab a Wick.
Melting your
Container Candle Wax
You will need
either a steamer
pot or deep sauce pan, and you will also need a melting
pot with a pouring spout. These two items create a double boiler to melt
your wax.
A simple double
boiler using an old sauce pan and a meting pot with a spout.
Fill the bottom
part of your double boiler (the steamer
pot or the deep sauce pan) with about two inches of cool water, and place
on the burner set to high temperature.
Place pieces of container
candle wax to be melted into the melting
pot with a pouring spout, set the melting
pot in the water, and attend to it as the wax
liquefies. (When the water begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium low or
low.)
If you have a large
block of wax
and need instructions on how to safely break it into smaller pieces, please visit
our section on How To Break Up Wax
Blocks
When the wax
is entirely liquid (i.e., when there are no solid chunks any longer in the pot)
you have successfully melted the wax.
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src="http://www.candlehelp.com/wine_files/image007.gif">
Our container
candle wax melts at about 130
degrees F. The wax
will continue to grow hotter as it remains in the double boiler. The temperature
of the wax
should get to 190
degrees F.
Adding Dye
After the wax
is entirely melted, add your candle
dye, if you are using any. Each of our diamond
shaped dye chips colors 1 lb of wax.
Use more or less candle
dye for lighter or darker colored candles. Drop a dye chip
(or part of a dye chip)
into the melted wax,
and stir
until the dye chip
is entirely dissolved into the liquid wax.
Add Vybar
Vybar
103 suppresses mottling, to give your candle a solid opaque finish. If your
wax
has a tendency to mottle, or if you are making a highly fragranced candle, it
is a good idea to add Vybar to prevent mottling. Standard usage with our wax
is 1 teaspoon of Vybar
103 per 1 pound of wax.
Add the Vybar
and stir
it until it is completely melted and thoroughly mixed in.
Adding Fragrance
Adding fragrance
is the last thing you do before you pour the candle. This is because the potency
of the fragrance
can be reduced if subjected to high heat for too long.
After the wax
is entirely melted, and after you have added candle
dye (if you are using candle
dye), add your candle
fragrance. The standard ratio for our candle
fragrance oils is one ounce of fragrance
oil per 1 lb of wax.
Use more or less fragrance
for lighter or heavier scented candles. Add the candle fragrance
to the melted wax
in the melting pot, and stir
thoroughly to get even distribution of the candle
fragrance.
Pouring the Wine
Goblet Candle Candle
When your container
candle wax has reached 190
degrees F, pour it into your wine
goblet. Fill the wine
goblet to the level you want your finished wine
goblet candle to be.
Placing the
Wick
The
wax
at the bottom of the wine
goblet will begin to cool and solidify very soon after
pouring. In most container
candles, you can place the tabbed wick into the solidifying wax
and allow the wax
to cool and solidify around the wick tab.
Since
the underside of the wine
goblet will be in view when the candle is finished, and
since the bowl of the wine
goblet tapers down to a narrow point, you should suspend
the wick
very near the bottom, but so that the wick tab
is not resting on the bottom. It will mar the final look of the wine
goblet candle if you can see the metal of a wick tab
poking through the wax.
You can use a paperclip and a Jiffy
Wicker wick centering bar to suspend the wick in the wax
so that it does not touch the glass and show through.
Lower
your tabbed
wick
into the wax
until it rests on the bottom of the wine
goblet container. Thread the top end of the wick
through the hole in a wick-centering
bar. With the wick
centering bar resting on the rim of the wine
goblet, pull the top of the wick
up until you see the wick tab
at the other end suspended in the liquid wax
near the bottom, but not touching the glass anywhere.
Place
a paperclip on the top end of the wick
so that the paperclip, holding the wick,
rests on the wick
centering bar. This keep the wick
and the wick tab
centered and suspended above the glass.
Set
the Candle
Allow
the candle to cool. As the candle cools, the wax
will shrink, which tend to pull the wick
off center. To counteract this, periodically tug the wick
back to center.
2nd
Pour
As
the candle cools down, the wax
from the first pour will have shrunk into a sink-hole around the wick,
which you will plainly be able to see. This is normal, as wax
expands when melted and contracts when it cools. Make a 2nd pour of wax
to fill this hole and complete your wine
goblet candle.
To
make the 2nd pour for the wine
goblet candle, re-heat the wax
you saved from the first pour in the double boiler. Since this wine
goblet candle is made in a glass container,
it is better if you can reheat the 2nd Pour wax
to about 5 to
10 degrees F hotter than the temperature
of your first pour wax.
(If the wax
of your first pour was 190
degrees F, then heat the 2nd pour wax
to 195
or 200 degrees F before pouring.) This will melt the 1st pour wax
slightly and minimize the appearance of seams where the two wax
pours meet.
Take
care not to pour the 2nd pour wax
higher than the set level of the 1st pour wax,
as it may seep into the small space between the glass and the 1st
pour wax,
and mar the final finish of your wine
goblet candle.
Final
Set
Once
you have made the 2nd pour of wax
to fill the shrinkage sink hole in the center of the candle, let it sit
undisturbed until it cools completely.
Finished Wine
Goblet Candle
Before you burn
your finished wine goblet candle, trim the wick
to ¼ inch. The ivory colored and vanilla
scented candle shown in this tutorial was made using a formula of 1
ounce of vanilla
fragrance oil, 1 teaspoon of Vybar
103 and one pound of container
wax. The ivory color of the finished candle is a result of the
yellow colored vanilla
fragrance oil.
Try wine
goblet candles with Merlot,
Red
Wine, Amaretto,
and Champagne
candle fragrance. Use our burgundy
or cranberry
colored candle
dye chips for reds. Try Butterscotch
or Maple
colored candle dye
for Amaretto. For white wines and champagne, forgo the candle
dyes, or use a little bit of Gold
or Ivory.
