How to Make Your Own Yogurt Cup Candles at Home Reusing Worthless Items

Confused about what to do with your old candle drippings or broken candle sticks? Turning these seemingly useless items into viable new candles is fairly easy when you follow these steps!

First of all you will need a variety of items.

Wax

Of any variety, bee-wax is fairly clean and has a low melting point and will bide well for you in the long term, but is also fairly expensive. I prefer to make this process as eco-friendly as possible by using old candle drippings or broken candle sticks. You can also break up a few crayons and use them to form various colors, but try not to use too many crayons as the wax does not burn well.

Equipment

I like to use a small 4inch cooking pot to melt my wax, I also just use my kitchen range, but be careful, because using the range can make quite a mess without much of an effort. You will also need something to stir the wax and keep it from burning (I use a normal spoon). You will also need a mold of sorts for the candle. I like to use single serving yogurt containers as they tend to be the perfect size for a 4 inch candle, with an inch and a half diameter. You will also need masking tape and something to weight the wick down, I would suggest using old fishing sinkers(just one per wick). You may also purchase oils for scent but this is not required.

Wicks

Wicks can be purchased in bulk at any craft store such as Michael's or even in the crafts section of larger stores like Walmart. But I like to use old candle stick wicks. If you have some broken candle sticks then simply break them up even more and try not to rip the wick off in the process. Then pull the wax remnants off of the string, this may be hard to do, but with a swift tug you should be able to strip the wick without a problem. Most candle stick wicks are the perfect size for these slow burning yogurt candles that you are making as well.

Now then the actual process of making the candles is fairly easy but will take some time to perfect. Take your wax and place it in your pot, turn the heat on low and watch as the wax starts to melt. If you turn the burner on too high then the wax will burn and you will waste a lot of it, as well as harming yourself by breathing in all of that waxy vapor. Add crayons for color and any oils you might want to add for scent, I have an old bottle and I use a few drops of oil in each batch. Once your wax is melted turn off the burner and while continuing to stir the pot pour the wax into your empty yogurt container. Make sure you do not already have the wick inside the mold(yogurt container).

Next take your wick with appropriate weight on the bottom, sinkers should work but there are other options available as well, and if you purchased your wicks from the store then you should not even need a weight. Take your wick and drop it down into the mold and let it hang over the side of the container. Take the masking tape and block off a third of the top of the cup. Do this again making a "V" shape with the notch of the "V" being the center of the container, the goal of this is to hold the wick in place while the wax sets. Take the wick and pull it over into the notch of the V while hoping that the wick is centered all the way down (there is no way of knowing for sure, but if it does not feel right then adjust it accordingly). Next take one more strip of tape and secure the wick. Now leave your candle until it is completely cool(generally about 2 hours), and then take off the tape. Cut small slits in the top of the sides of the mold and using your hands or pliers, pull the plastic away from the candle. The plastic should snap and break which is normal, but be careful not to cut yourself. Once the candle is free from the mold you are done. You will notice that generally the crayons will separate from the other wax and tend to drop to the bottom. But hopefully with trial and error you will learn how to portion you different waxes so that you can design candles intentionally rather than accidentally as my first few striped candles were. Now light your candle and enjoy!