Here in the USA Memorial Day is a national holiday for remembering loved ones lost. It’s a time to gather with family and loved ones and take a day off. It also marks the unofficial start of summer! One of my favorite things about summer is all the fresh fruit that’s in season, so I decided to make some Tropical Fruit Scented Candles with the Wick Candle Maker. I grabbed some old dollar mason jars I had in my stash and turned them into a pineapple candle, a strawberry candle, and a peach candle.
Since I got my Wick Candle Making Kit, my girls and I have starting making gifts for friends and it’s been so much fun! The Wick is simple and safe enough that I feel totally comfortable including young crafters in the process, which I love.
My mason jars are pint size (16 oz) and don’t fit under the Wick machine, but that’s no problem! You can totally use larger containers with your Wick. All I had to do was fill the small mold to the max line twice and that filled the inside of the jars perfectly. Tip: measure with water ahead of time to see how many molds fit into your container. After filling the hopper to the max line with the included paraffin wax pellets, I measured out the pigment powder so I used the same ratio for both pours into the mold. That way the colors match exactly.
I set the heat on high, and waited about 20 minutes for the wax to melt. While waiting, I decorated the outside of my pineapple jar with washi tape that I cut into thin chevron shapes with my Washi Chomper.
For the strawberry jar, I added black dots from leftover punctuation and letter stickers.
Then I added the wick to my jars by securing one end to the bottom of the jar with a small glue dot. Once the wax melted I added 3-4 drops of tropical fruit scented frangrance oil and stirred the melted wax thoroughly.
Then I opened the valve and allowed the wax to pour into the mold. While it was still hot, I carefully poured it into my jar and then started on the next batch of wax, following the above steps. I recommend wiping out the mold with paper towels after the first pour while the wax is still melted. It’s much easier to clean the mold that way.
Tip: wax shrinks slightly when it cools, so you will notice the center of your candle caves in slightly. Hold back some wax so you can top off your candle once the second batch dries and fill it in.
While the second batch of wax cooled, I decorated the jar lids. I started by painting them green. I used three different greens to add a little interest to the set.
While the paint dried, I cut out leaves for the pineapple, strawberry, and peach candles. Once the paint dried completely, I hot glued the two parts of the lid together, and then hot glued the leaves on each lid with the USB Mini Glue Gun.
For the peach candle I wanted to try using scented wax melts from my local craft store. I found some peach scented ones but the color was darker than I wanted, so I mixed in some French vanilla melts along with a little yellow pigment from my Wick kit. I love how it turned out!
Be sure to clean out the heating chamber in between candles. I found it easiest to turn the heat down to low once I finished a candle, and then wipe out the heating chamber with paper towels. That way the wax is still melted and easy to wipe, but the chamber isn’t so hot.
I’d love to try some soy wax, bees wax, and adding dried flowers or pot pourri to my next set of candles. It’s so much fun, and there are so many possibilities!
This is a great project for a gift, for summer events, or for home decor. Thanks for stopping by and have a safe and relaxing summer!
