Prepare your pillar wax blend and start melting it in the double boiler. It should reach a temperature between 180°F and 190°F.
Cut a length of wick equal to the height of your mold PLUS 6
centimeters and prime the wick. Not only will a primed wick burn better
the first time you light it but its stifness will also make it much
easier to thread it through the mold's wick hole.
Wick your mold Now that the wick is ready, prepare your mold. You'll have to thread the wick through the hole in the bottom of the mold (if you're using a homemade mold, you'll have to make this hole yourself, perfectly centered); it must stick up 2 or 3 centimeters from each side of the mold.
At the bottom side of the mold, push the wick flat against the bottom and cover it with enough mold sealer to hide it entirely. Don't be thrifty with mold sealer: it can be reused and, moreover, its presence will prevent the liquid paraffin from escaping the mold and run off all over the countertop. It will also need to resist the pulling created by the wick holder on the other end of the mold.
The wick holder is used to keep the wick tight (hence the pulling I just talked about) and correctly centered inside the mold.
If needed, preheat your pouring jug If you use the double boiler method
exclusively, you may skip this step and go directly to the next one.
In my case, I use a slow cooker to melt a large volume of wax at once
so I need to preheat the pouring jug I will use before I transfer the
amount of hot paraffin needed for the pillar into it. This is necessary
because the low temperature of a non heated metallic pouring jug would
make the temperature of the paraffin poured inside fall too much. To
preheat my pouring jug, I usually use a heatgun but you could also
place your pouring jug (only if it's made of metal) a few moments in a
warm oven (trouble is that the handle get quite hot as well).
Add dye to the wax if you want to Make sure that the temperature of the wax is still somewhere between 180°F and 190°F.
You can now add candle dye, if you want to. Stir scrupulously with an
old spoon or a long wooden stick (barbecue stick) but not too
forcefully so that you won't create air bubbles.
CAUTION: a tiny
amount of candle dye is enough to colour a large amount of wax, so
start with a very small quantity and add some if necessary. Don't
forget that the color you see in liquid paraffin won't be the same as
that of the cooled down, finished candle.
To get an idea of what
the final color will be like, pour a small amount of paraffin in a
plastic cup and put it in the fridge for ten minutes: the color of the
wax in the cup should be very close to that of the finished candle. Add
more dye if necessary.
Pour the paraffin into the mold Verify
once again the temperature of the paraffin. If it drops under the 180°F
mark, put the pouring pot back into the double boiler pan until the
temperature reaches 180°F again.
If you are going to use a metallic
mold, it's a good idea to preheat the mold using, for instance, a
heatgun or by placing it during ten minutes on a hot heater.
Now,
pour the paraffin into the mold, slowly and not from too high to avoid
the formation of air bubbles in the wax. CAUTION: if you realize that
you won't have enough wax to completely fill up your mold, be sure to
keep a small amount of wax to fill the shrinking hole that will form at
the top of the candle. If you fail to do so, you will find it really
difficult to make a new batch of wax of the exact same shade of color.
Hit the sides of the mold (gently, don't break or dent it) with a
wooden spoon to free any trapped air bubbles. You'll see these bubbles
raise to the surface where they should burst and disappear (this will
more than likely be the case if you poured the wax at the right
temperature).
Poke release holes in the wax along the wick
When the wax starts to settle and cool off (after an average 30 to 45
minutes, although it depends on the size of your candle and the room
temperature), you will see a well taking shape, between the sides of
the mold and the wick. We call this well the shrinking well.
This
is a normal phenomenon due to the very nature of paraffin: as almost
everything in the world, wax expands when heated and shrinks as it
cools. The small amount of wax we've kept in the pouring pot will be
used to fill up this well. But before you do so, we need to make sure
that no air pockets are present under the wax surface, along the wick.
Take your wicking or knitting needle and poke a few deep holes,
vertically, all around the wick. Poke deep enough holes but don't force
your way through though. Poke 4 to 6 holes at different places around
the wick; these holes are called release holes.
Fill up the
shrinking well Bring the leftover wax back to a temperature of 190°F in
the double boiler (for a second pour, the wax must be 10°F (6°C) warmer
than it was for the initial pour).
When it's there, very carefully fill up the shrinking well around the wick.
CAUTION: it is very important that you don't pour higher than the
initial wax level; just fill the well, don't pour any higher or your
candle will show a nasty line where the initial wax level has been.
Pick up your wicking needle again and push it gently in the existing
release holes (they will appear darker in the newly poured wax). If you
see air bubbles raising to the surface, you'll understand why it was
worth the while poking relief holes: any air pocket along the wick will
make sure the flame goes out so better get rid of them.
Unmold
the candle Unless you're making a very large pillar, you shouldn't have
to make a third pour as it's unlikely that a new well will develop.
However, should it be the case, then just repeat the previous step.
When your candle has entirely cooled off (and this could take some
time, up to two hours or more) and the mold is cool to the touch,
remove the mold sealer and the wick holder. Gently press the mold
between your hands, upside down, to help release the candle inside. If
necessary, pretend you're going to hit the move against the countertop
but stop your motion abruptly. The candle should pop out quite easily.
Do not hit the mold against a hard surface. Do not hit it too hard
either. Don't use a knife to try and release a stuck candle. If it
really won't come out of the mold, put the mold in the fridge (not in
the freezer) during 10 minutes and try again.
Level the bottom
of your candle Trim the wick at the bottom of the candle. When you've
unmolded the candle, the side that was at the top of the mold has
become the bottom of the candle. Because of the second pour you've
made, the bottom side is neither very nice to look at nor level so we
will now take care of that by rubbing the base of the candle against
the hot surface of an old pan.
After this operation, your candle should be perfectly level.
Here's your first pillar candle! Almost there! The last thing to do now is to trim the other side of the wick (the one at the top of the candle) to a length of 5 millimeters.
Congratulations, you've just made your first pillar candle!
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