Trial ~ Ice Candles

I decided to give Ice Candles a try. They are rather easy to make and chances are you already have everything you need to make them at home. Instructions for them can be find easily online, though I originally learned about them from a candle making book at my local library(which I will update with the title of that book later). 

You can buy wax for these, pillar waxes are the best way to go, or you can use candles you already have at home. I opted for a couple of candles I had purchased several months ago. I like their scents and I loved the containers they were in, but I wasn't too fond of the way they burned(it was very uneven and their wicks were too smokey) so crafting fodder they became! 


Supplies needed for this project:

• Cardboard container that can hold liquids(milk or juice boxes work out well)
• Wicks, one for every candle you make(larger/wider candles may need more than one wick)
• Pencil/chopstick/something to hold your wick, you may have to get creative with this if you are using pretabbed wicks(I have metal bars for mine since I use pretabbed wicks)
• Wax or candles to be melted down
• Ice cubes
• An old pot for boiling water
• Kitchen towel or pot holder 
• Wax paper(optional)
• Paper towels(optional)

Start with prepping your containers; your milk or juice box needs to be cleaned thoroughly. If you can't get it completely dry after cleaning that's okay, you'll be filling it with ice later that will be melting so a few drops of water won't be an issue. When your containers are ready set up and center your wicks. You can adjust the wicks later when you add ice since you'll need to add it around the wick. I used one of my pillar molds in addition to a milk box to see how different the candles will turn out. In addition to giving the metal mold a try I also set these up on top of wax paper - pillar molds have a hole in the base(basically they make pillar candles upside down)for the wick and if it's not closed up well with tape then the contents will leak. The wax wasn't an issue but I did have a small water leak when the ice melted in the candle.

Your next step is to melt down your wax. If you purchased new wax you'll need to get something to melt your wax in that will fit inside of your pot of water. Bring your water to a boil(it doesn't need to be a rolling boil) and set your candle or wax pot inside of the boiling water. You can turn down the heat on your stove once the water has reached its boil since it should maintain its temperature long enough to melt your wax. If you're using an old candle don't forget to take out the wick once the wax melts around it - you don't want to pour a half burnt wick into your ice candle. 

When your wax has melted(or is very close to being completely melted) then you will need to add your ice to your molds. Don't add the ice until just before its time to pour the wax; you don't want the ice to melt before the wax has gotten to it. If you're using a candle in a jar and not a pour pot with a handle on it make sure to use a kitchen towel or a pot holder when pouring your candle. Boiled water and hot wax hurt. When pouring your wax you don't need to worry about avoiding direct contact with the ice, I made sure the wax hit the ice first.

With the wax poured now you wait for your candles to harden. This won't take as long since there is ice inside of the candle to chill and harden the wax but you still will want to give it a few hours to make sure the ice has completely melted. The metal mold here had the candle completely set in under an hour; the metal itself was chilled from the ice and it ended up prolonging how long the ice took to melt. The cardboard mold took at least 2 1/2 hours for the candle to set and the ice to completely melt. 

Your candles should come out easily from their molds; I had no issues taking mine out. You will need to pour out the water from the ice, which I was able to get most of it out before taking either candle out of their mold. The shapes in the candle wax all come from the shape of the ice, so it was cool to see my bone ice try had at least one good bone shaped hole in my candles. 

And there you have it, Ice candles! Apart from the bone hole, I actually wasn't pleased with how these came out. I was expecting more holes but the outside of these candles look pretty solid. Even though these didn't come out looking like I had hoped they would, the project was so easy and didn't require a lot of effort on my part so I'm probably going to give it another go at another time.

One last picture - this is a great example of how not every candle container can be put in boiling water for wax removal, not all containers handle it the same. The green jar was from the same company that this one was from but the green jar had no damage to it where as my purple jar successfully lost almost half of its coloring. While I can't use these for a home decor I wanted, I can still get crafty with them in the garden or get crafty with them for other projects. Crafters beware when cleaning out your candle jars!