Sand candles are a beautiful gift to give, wonderful home décor for yourself and an easy project to complete. Elegant enough to grace any dinner table, yet simple enough to craft with your children, these candles are inexpensive and can be completed in just a couple of hours. A good craft for those of us with little time for such activities, they are something you can display or give with pride.
Materials are easy to obtain. You will need bee's wax, dye blocks in your choice of colors, wicks, sand and a bucket or tub (I use my granddaughter's sandbox). You'll also want to have a clean, empty coffee can (sued to melt wax), a saucepan in which to boil water, a spray bottle of water to moisten the sand and a bottle for forming the sand mold. A paint brush will be used to clean finished candles (this is usually the most fun for the kids).
Before you begin you need to make a sand mold. Put sand nearly to the top of your chosen container. The sand you choose will affect the look of your candle, with finer sand being less obvious in the finished candle and coarser sand sticking more to the finished product. Colored sand gives a completely different look, with the wax color showing as a shadow tint beneath it. Mixing small shells or stones or aquarium gravel with the sand will make a truly original candle. Mix about half sand and half secondary material to ensure a good covering, or carefully embed shells in the sides of your finished sand mold.
Making the mold is not difficult Sand should be moist, so use the spray bottle to spitz-and-mix the sand until it is able to hold a shape. Be careful not to over-wet the sand, or it becomes to mushy; this will delay your project. Dig away a small hole in the sand to get started, and then shove your chosen bottle deep into the sand. Tamp the sand back around the bottle and carefully remove it. You can make multiple molds in the same container, using the same bottle or a variety.
Wick sizes vary according to candle sizes. Choose smaller diameter wicks for smaller diameter candles and thick wicks for fat candles. If the wick is not pre-waxed you'll need to dip it into melted wax and lay flat on waxed paper for about two minutes to stiffen it and simplify your candle making. Once the candle is waxed, push it into the mold, sinking it into the middle of the sand left on the bottom. Crimp, or bend the wick about ½” above the top of the mold and lay the rest of the wick on the sand.
Bee's wax melts easily in a homemade double boiler. Simply place the wax in the coffee can and the can in a saucepan one third full of water. Bring the water to a boil, keeping a close eye on the wax. This is the time to add a segment of the dye block. Smaller bits make lighter shades, of course, and using more will make a deeper hue. Mixing colors will provide a wider variety of colors fro which to choose. If you're working with children, keep them at the table wile you work at the stove for safety. Remind them that the wax is very hot and supervise closely. Pour wax into each mold and allow to dry. Candles with small diameters take about 20 minutes, while larger candles will take up to one hour.
Once the candles are dry, remove them from the sand. Using a paint brush, wipe away any loose sand.
Although these beauties are almost too attractive to burn, go ahead! You can always make more.
