Safety
Like all crafts, there are steps you should follow when making candles that will help ensure your success.
Unlike some other crafts though, the main ingredient in candle making–melted wax– is hot and flammable and thus dangerous if not used with care. Hot wax is surprisingly liquid and is easily spilled or leaked while making candles and will ruin furniture, clothes, carpet—and skin. Candle coloring will stain furniture and clothes. There is always the danger of burns from splashing or dripping the hot wax onto yourself. However, candle making is not dangerous as long as you take some precautions and plan ahead.
As when heating anything on a stove, turn all handles on pots away from the front of the stove so you don’t accidentally bump into them. Better yet, use a pot that does not have a long handle. A metal stock pot and lid with “ear” type handles works well.
Wax will ignite if melted at too high a temperature. Never heat wax over 300 degrees and never leave melting wax unattended. Use a thermometer so you know exactly what temperature your wax is while melting it.
Know before you start what to do if the wax does catch fire or you spill hot wax onto your skin:
If your wax gets too hot and ignites while melting, cover the pot with a lid and turn off the heat.
If your wax spills and is ignited by the burner, turn the burner off and sprinkle the wax fire with baking soda to extinguish. Do not try to put out a wax fire with water.
If you are burned by hot wax, immediately cover the burned area with cool water to stop further damage. If it is a bad burn, do not attempt to remove the wax. Place a cool cloth over the area and get to a doctor.
Make sure there is nothing on the floor or in your walkway that you could trip over while moving the pot of hot wax from the stove to your mold. Keep all pets and children out of the work area while you are dealing with the hot wax.
Always stir and pour hot wax slowly and gently to prevent spills. Never touch a filled mold with your bare hands—always use hot pads, preferably mitten style hot pads that will protect your hands from the hot wax.
If the hot wax spills at any time, do not attempt to soak it up with cloth or paper towels—it make soak through and burn you. Instead, let the wax cool and harden for easy removal.
Be careful when putting the filled mold into the water bath so that it does not tip over and spill the wax. If it seems prone to tipping, weight it down with a clean brick or other weighted item that will sit securely on top of the filled mold.
