Ombre Candles

Bored of having plain white candles? Why not make your own ombré style mini candles!

What you’ll need:

• Paraffin wax – I used 4 plain white candles
• Two small heat resistant glass jars – I used two small jam jars
• Crayons for colour – I’ve used three different coloured crayons
• Candle wicks
• Clean tin can
• Heavy based saucepan
• Heat proof mat

Let’s get straight to it!

Our first job is to glue the candle wicks to the bottom of our jars. I used my trusty hot glue gun to make sure they’re really stuck down. Set the jars aside whilst we melt the wax.

To melt the wax, I’ll be using a tin can which I’ll place in a pan of water. You can also melt the wax down in a bowl over a pan of simmering water but I like to use a tin can so I can throw it out after I’m finished.

On a chopping board, cut all of the candles in half and remove the smaller wicks from the middle. Also chop your crayons in half as well.

Place the pan of water over a low to medium heat and bring the water to a simmer. Pop your tin can into the water in an upright position and drop in two halves of the wax. Leave that to melt for a minute.

Now drop in half of one of the crayons. I used the darkest shade first as I want the layers of the candle to get lighter nearer the top. Heat the wax and crayon together until they are both fully melted. This shouldn’t take long at all; mine took roughly 30 seconds.

Using oven gloves, remove the tin can from the pan and pour half the mixture into each of the jars. To make the pouring process easier, pinch the edge of the can together to create a bit of a spout.

Leave the wax to turn back to a solid. I left it about 10 minutes and then you can repeat the whole process but with your other crayons and start to layer up your candle.

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Make sure you keep the wick straight as you’re pouring in the melted wax so the wick will end up in the middle at the end. Also if you want smooth layers down the side of the jars, try not to get any wax down the edges as you’re pouring.

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Once you have finished pouring all of the different colours of wax into your jars and have left them to set solid, you can then trim off the wick. And we’re done! If you want to use these as presents, keep the lids to the jars and create your own stickers or labels for the tops!

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If you have a go don’t forget to share your makes with us on Instagram @aboxofbuttons or on Twitter @aBoxofButtons! See you next time!