Soy Candles

I read an article on survival candles earlier in the week and the author lamented about the cost of survival or long burning candles. I agreed with the authors assessment and read further. He or she talked about using soy wax as an alternative and much cheaper.

I road over to Hobby Lobby the other night and purchased a 2 lbs bag of soy wax and a few wicks. I think all totaled it cost about $15 for the materials.

Now there are many ways to do this and many different containers that a person can use. One of the most popular are the Ball brand mason jars. Not having any on hand, and trying to keep my costs down for this initial experiment I opted for the small sized soup can. I also thought of in a bug out situation or transporting, a can would hold up better than a glass jar.

The soy wax comes in a bag and is a flaked material. The wicks are just that, wicks. 6 to a package. I used a small pot, filled with water and brought it to a boil.

I filled the can with the flaked wax and placed in the center of the boiling water and just watched it melt. Pretty mind numbingly easy really. I had to add more “dry” wax into the cans as it melted to top off the can.

I added the wicks to the melted wax after removing  them from the boiling pot and held the wicks in place with a bamboo shish kabob stick until the candles cooled.

In the end I came up with 3 can candles. I haven’t tried them yet and for a few dollars it didn’t turn out to badly. I’ll let you know how they work later.

I have included a link to Lone Star Candle Company. If you are into making a whole bunch of candles they offer a 50 lbs box for $60. Based on my 2 lbs experiment, that would equal 80 candles in soup cans or more if my math is off. I am sure you can find the wax cheaper but I only added the link for an example.