Here’s the guest post I did. Enjoy!

DIY Teacup Candles

Candles are a beautiful gift for the holidays, especially when homemade. This DIY instruction will show you how to make very pretty (and very cheap!) teacup candles from materials found at thrift stores.

You will need:

Candles

Teacups

Two pots and water (two make a double boiler)

Wooden skewers/pens/chopsticks

Step 1. Gather your materials

I went to a Goodwill store in Boston where I found all of my materials. This particular store had a whole section devoted to donated candles, so I gathered up many different ones. I would definitely recommend picking up any tapered ones or ones with long wicks that you could use for your project. This way you don’t have to make your own wicks, which can be quite a process. I spent $4 on all of my candles.

Any old teacups will work. I picked out different styles of teacups but if you found a whole set you could have all matching candles. None of mine came with saucers, but keep the saucer in mind as it could be a cute addition to the candle! I bought 10 teacups for about $6.

NOTE: You have to melt the wax, so one of your pots will have wax directly in it. If you don’t want this, consider picking up a cheap pot at the thrift store to use instead.

Step 2. Melt the wax

I pulled the wicks out of my long tapered candles to use for the teacup candles. You can also pull them out after the wax has melted, but then you would have to let them dry. Set up your double boiler by putting about 2 inches of water in one pot and nesting a slightly smaller pot inside. You can search online for a better description if you need it, but you’re essentially setting up the pots like you would to melt chocolate. My wax melted within 10 minutes.

Step 3. Set up your teacups

While the wax is melting, set up your teacups with their wicks. Lay a pen or a skewer across the top of your teacup. Then take the wicks you pulled out of the tapered candles and measure so that the wick just touches the bottom of the teacup. I would do a rough cut of the wick at that point, and then I would wrap it around the pen to make a candy cane shape and hold it in place. You could also use tape or ‘trap’ it in between two taped together chopsticks…it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s centered!



Step 4. Pour in the wax

When the wax is melted, pour it slowly into your teacups. I would definitely suggest putting down some sort of old towel under the pot in case some wax spills. Fill it up leaving a little space before the edge of the teacup. Also keep the height of your wick in mind…you don’t want it to be too short and drown in the wax! Also, feel free to adjust the wick at this point before the wax hardens.



Step 5. Let the wax harden/trim wicks

I made my candles at night and the next morning they were beautiful and hard! This also explains the difference in lighting in my pictures. One thing to keep in mind is that for some reason that I don’t understand, you will almost inevitably end up with a slight depression in the middle of your candle. They don’t bother me, but if you want the surface of your wax to be smooth you should pour more melted wax in and let it harden again. At this point you should also trim the wick. There’s not a real science to it, just don’t trim them way too short or leave them way too long.



Step 6. Enjoy!

You just made beautiful, easy, and cheap, homemade gifts at $1 a piece! Spread the holiday love and share them with your friends and family!