Scented oil-based Mason jar candles can make any room cheerful, plus they are easy and inexpensive to make. Since a few ounces of oil will burn for several hours, oil candles turn out to be much cheaper than most candles.
Below are the basic steps for making a simple non-scented, non-decorated Mason jar candle. However, you can jazz up your candle by infusing your oil with essential oils, herbs or spices. Fruit like lemons, limes and oranges as well as coffee beans, vanilla beans, pinecones, pine tree needles, and cranberries also work to create a welcoming aroma. And, by adding these natural items, your candle can be used as a homey decoration. Alternately, you can add any decorations inside the candle that you want even if they don’t emit a particular aroma.
Supplies Needed for 1 Candle
- 1 – 1/8” nipple. Find them in the lighting section at places like Home Depot or Lowe’s with all the spare lighting parts.
- 2 – 1/8” couplings. These should be right next to the nipples.
- 2 – 3/8” washers.
- 100% Cotton Lamp Wicks. You can find these in craft stores.
- Oil. Almost any oil will do — olive oil, coconut oil, canola oil, citronella oil, peanut oil, liquid parafin oil, odorless mineral oil, or lamp oil.
- Mason jar.
Tools You Will Need
- Cordless drill with a 3/8 drill bit.
- Screw driver and hammer.
- Block of wood. You will want this so that you have something to pound or drill into.
How to Create Your Candle
- Make a dot where you want the hole (and thus the wick) to go in the lid.
- Make a starter hole in the lid with the screw driver first. Pound the back of the lid with the screw driver and the hammer. It doesn’t take much pounding to make get it started.
- Next, holding the lid very, very tightly use the drill with the 3/8 drill to bit to create the actual hole. If you aren’t holding the lid tight enough, it will spin. That’s where the block of wood can come in handy to help stabilize the lid. If any parts of the metal lid are uneven, use the hammer to pound them back into shape.
- Put the nipple through the hole. On both sides of the lid, add a washer, and then a coupling. The nipple should be longer underneath the lid than on top of the lid. You will want the nipple and coupling to be flush on top of the lid.
- Next, thread the lamp wick through the nipple. Don’t worry if it isn’t snug — it will expand a little after it is soaked with oil.
- Add your desired amount of oil to the jar. Wait for the oil to soak all the way up the lamp wick before you light it.
- Attach completed lid onto the jar.
Photo Credit: istockphoto.com
