Candle Making Tips To Help
Candle Making Tips That Will Help You Be Prepared For Anything
How about a few candle making tips to keep the fun in your projects for both you and your helpers? This is especially important if you are new to the craft of candle making. Are you ready for a few surprises? Prevention and preparedness is the key.
When you start your first few projects, it is a good idea to keep in mind the process all the way through before you begin work. The candle making tips for today are about accessories that you normally would “not” associate with candle making. They involve newspaper, cardboard, place mats, and boxes. See, I told you it would be surprising. Believe me, you will thank me later, these are important tips for successful candle making projects.
First tip: think clean up! That’s right, clean up. If you make a big mess, you may never want to make candles again. What a shame that would be.
The best thing to do is to take steps up front that will help you make clean up a breeze. I am a big believer in this tip; prepare your working surface before you even get started.
Pick a nice clear counter top area close to where you stove or heating element is. Then spread newspapers in the candle making area.
After your counter is covered, you may want to put a second layer of paper. If you do not have a newspaper, butcher paper works great too and it’s inexpensive. Next, I like to reinforce my counter protection with additional materials.
You have a couple of options for this. Lay down some of your old rectangular dinner placemats or old cutting boards. No cloth, only hard surface materials. They make great landing pads to organize your work and place your potential spill problems, like coloring agents or scents. If you spill, it doesn’t do damage to your countertops. The hard surface pads made of wood, plastic or other materials will withstand and contain spills including hot wax.
No excuses, if you don’t have old placemats or cutting boards, I bet you can get your hands on a big cardboard box and cut out a nice working surface with that.
My husband was a great help when he saw what I was up to. He went into his shop and cut a piece of plywood into the shape of my kitchen countertop. Then he cut that piece into three separate sections. I put it on top of the newspaper; this keeps my counters from getting scratched.
My point here is that proper preparation up front will make it easy to clean up after your project is completed. More importantly there are no stains or wax on my counter tops.
Are you ready for more candle making tips? Make a plan for where you keep your candle making supplies, pots, measuring tools, wax and all the other supplies you use. My advice is to put them all in one place where they will not be disturbed. Keep an eye out for the cardboard box that is the right size for all your things. Even better, plastic storage boxes are very reasonably priced, come in all sizes and they have nice lock down lids. They work great and can be stacked in a closet or out in the garage. Either way, be creative here and you will find something that will work for you to keep all your candle making supplies in one place.
This is experience talking here. If a month goes between your projects, you will pull everything out and then disappointment strikes. There is always something missing! ”Where is my scale?” “Where are my measuring spoons?” Your operation goes on hold as you begin your search for what is missing. Murphy’s Law – you discover you are missing something important just when your wax is melted and at the perfect temperature.
So remember, plan success by setting up your work area properly and when you are done, have a place for all of your materials where nobody will get in them and move your things around. I hope these candle making tips have been helpful.
Have fun!
