Teacup Candles

Over the next week I’m going to show you some cheap ideas for gifts which are pretty easy and enjoyable to make.

First, tea cup candles, which are always beautiful and when put together with the soap I’m going to show you tomorrow look very vintage and good quality.

First, the basics you are going to need:

Wax (can be bought cheaply from eBay)
Tea cups (hit your local House Clearance shop, they’ll be very cheap – I got a full set of six with saucers for £3)
Trawl the house clearance shop for pretty little bargains
Wicks
Wax dye or crayons (don’t use food dye, the oil and water won’t mix)
Hair dryer or embossing gun
Bowl, saucepan and wooden spoon

Basic equipment

First, put your wax into a bowl.
Fill your bowl with wax
Fill the saucepan with boiling water and place the bowl of wax in the water.
Heat until all the wax is melted. Be careful not to let it boil because you don’t want water in your wax!
In the meantime, you can get your cups ready. Wait until the wax has nearly all melted then use your hairdryer or embossing gun to heat the cups. This is an important step as it reduces the chance of the wax sinking in the middle, (one of mine still sunk this time, it’s quite tricky to get it bang on, in this situation I usually cheat – wait until it has cooled and add a sneaky bit on top to cover the hole, shhhh!).
Heat the cups to avoid sinking
Place your wick into the cup and secure in place with two pencils to stop it moving around when you pour.
Use pencils to keep your wick in place
Now the wax is completely melted you can add your frangrance, make sure you use a good quality fragrance and lots of it or you won’t be able to smell it!
Add lots of scent to make sure you can smell it!
To add your colour either scrape off a little of your dye or use your crayon. Be sparing, these candles look best when the colours are delicate.
Be sparing with colour for a delicate effect
Once the scent and colour are stirred in you can pour into your cups. Pour slowly to avoid bubbles.
Pour slowly to avoid bubbles
Leave to cool. Ta-da!