Hello Beautiful! I hope you had a long, relaxing summer full of healthy fun. Now that autumn is here, I wanted to find the perfect easy DIY project that can be made as a gift for your loved ones, or to create a festive atmosphere in your home. I am using natural ingredients that are locally sourced in Texas including our beeswax blocks fresh from local apiaries (now available in a pack of 4 1oz mini blocks in addition to our usual 1lb block), I also picked up some local vanilla essential oil, vanilla flavoring and honey.
About Candles
Candles are readily available in all our favorite shops nowadays and are a great gift for just about anyone. Unfortunately, when burned, all the artificial waxes, colors, and scents can negatively affect air quality indoors, especially with less ventilation in the colder months. With the coming holidays they are going to be in much wider use.
Natural candles are an easy, fast DIY recipe with quality ingredients. Instead of adding to indoor air pollution, they actually help purify the air. What could be better than a healthy gift that is beautiful, handmade, and naturally scents a room to create a cozy, inviting atmosphere?
Learn more about the ingredients in this recipe:
Natural Candle Ingredients
Texas Beeswax Block: I love having Texas wildflowers around us in the spring and summer. This gives our honeybees a rich variety of plant life to choose from. It also makes this beeswax lushly fragrant with the aroma of these flowers and botanicals. Our Texas beeswax block is a deep golden color and is only lightly filtered to remove debris. It contains the same propolis, royal jelly, and bee pollen compounds found in other raw bee products. That’s what makes it fantastic for use in skin and hair products as well. Beeswax burns with a warm and bright flame and lasts a long time compared to other waxes.
Locally-sourced honey: This superfood is rich in vitamins and minerals from native plants, which is helpful to support your body year-round. When burned, it imparts a faint caramelized scent along with the natural aroma of the beeswax.
Vanilla essential oil: We’re using vanilla essential oil to enhance the cozy atmosphere of this candle when burned, which can conjure up images of your favorite bakery or bookshop. Did you know that old books also give off the faint scent of vanilla?
“Lignin, which is present in all wood-based paper, is closely related to vanillin. As it breaks down, the lignin grants old books that faint vanilla scent.” – International League for Antiquarian Booksellers
Alcohol-free vanilla extract: The vanilla orchid produces such a complex scent in its fruit, the vanilla bean, that it is nearly impossible to fully capture it with just one extraction method. That is why we are adding vanilla extract to this candle recipe along with the essential oil. It contains different components of vanilla bean to add more depth to the scent.
This is the perfect gift for a wide range of people, especially those interested in aesthetics such as cottagecore, dark academia, or hygge that are popular trends around this time of year.
Now, on to the recipe:
Honey Vanilla Candle Recipe
- 16 oz beeswax block, grated or chopped
- 2 oz local, unfiltered and raw honey
- 1 Tbsp alcohol-free vanilla extract
- 1 tsp vanilla EO
Here are some supplies you’ll need:
- Candle jars (as many as you need to hold approx 18 oz of product)
- Wicks
- Metal wick holders
- Glue dots or tape to keep your wick in place in your jars
Instructions:
- Prepare your empty candle jars ahead of time – beeswax hardens quickly, so once you pour your mixture it will set shortly afterwards.
- Melt the beeswax in a double boiler setup – this will take about an hour of safely melting over a low heat.
- While you are waiting for the wax to completely melt, combine the honey, vanilla extract, and vanilla essential oil in a separate bowl.
- Once the beeswax is melted, quickly stir in the honey, vanilla extract and vanilla essential oil mixture until fully combined
- Pour into your jars
- When hardened and cool to the touch, your candles are ready to use!
Recipe Video
I hope you enjoy this recipe, just in time for your holiday celebrations!
Check out our variety of beeswaxes and our carnauba wax as a great vegan option for making these candles. Use code: WAX20 for 20% off.
As always please comment below with any feedback or questions you may have.
Happy crafting!