With summer here and the temperatures rising, the mosquitos are starting to make their dreaded appearance. Summer is a time for family fun, outdoor laughter, eating meals outside and splashing in the water. Through it all, everyone is always desperately trying to find ways to keep these pesky little creatures at bay, but nothing seems to work. Today I’m going to show you how to make your own citronella candles that work better than anything I’ve ever tried.
First, we need to gather up some supplies:
- Small metal bucket
- 2 lb package of soy wax flakes
- Candle wicks
- Hot glue gun
- Wooden skewers
- Citronella essential oil
- Tin cans
- Pot of boiling water
- Tongs
Start by preparing your bucket. Take your candle wicks and hot glue them onto the bottom of your bucket. You might want to use multiple wicks for different-sized containers. For this one, I decided to use two. If you want to make candles in mason jars, though, you only need one.
Once your hot glue dries, wrap the excess wick around a wooden skewer to keep it straight and in place.
Once that is all set up, it’s time to prepare the wax. Put a small amount of water in a pot. Then place your wax flakes in a tin can and set it into the water. Turn the heat on medium low (adjust as necessary). Determining how many flakes to use can be the tricky part. They melt down quite a bit. To fill up this bucket, I began with it completely full of flakes, knowing it would melt down, and I still had to add a little bit more. Once you measure it out, transfer the flakes to a container you can use to pour them into your tin cans.
Using a wooden skewer, stir the flakes around to make sure everything melts properly. Once it is melted, add about five drops of citronella essential oil. The rule of thumb is you want about 10 drops of citronella oil for every cup of melted wax. So it might be easier to figure out the size of your container and then determine the number of drops accordingly. You will need to make several batches of the melted wax, so just be sure you divide out the drops of oil to make sure there are equal amounts in each batch. That way when it burns, it distributes evenly.
When you have the oils mixed in with your melted wax, use a pair of tongs to pick up the tin can and pour it into your container slowly, making sure not to disturb your wicks.
Let the candle sit until the wax has fully hardened. This will take up to a few hours. Try not to disturb it while it’s drying, as that can cause the wax to crack. It won’t make it unusable, but it’s best to avoid if you can.
Now get outside and enjoy the summer nights without being eaten alive! 🙂
Here are some great ideas for what you can do with all those leftover candles.