Although you can master the art of candle braiding single-handedly, plaiting regular size tapers is much easier with two people than just one. So, find a friend—preferably a fellow candlemaker, or, take on an apprentice and teach!
Now that you understand the basics of candlemaking, you’re ready to move on to some advanced creative methods of making, shaping, and coloring candles. This is where the creativity really begins!
Chances are you already know how to make braids—either you’ve plaited your own hair or your daughter’s, or a friend’s. Still, the fashion for braided hair has long waned and if you don’t know how to make braids, you’ll have to learn in order to make these interestingly shaped braided candles from tapers.
You can practice with your own hair—if it’s long—or find a friend with long hair to practice on. Hair is a lot easier to braid than wax, because it’s soft and flexible. You can also practice with fairly thick string. As usual, practice makes perfect.
Once you’ve mastered the art of braiding, or making plaits, you’re ready to add that skill to your repertoire of candlemaking tricks. Be prepared for some spectacular results once you’ve mastered the knack of braiding wicks.
Although you can master the art of candle braiding single-handedly, plaiting regular size tapers is much easier with two people than just one. So, find a friend—preferably a fellow candlemaker, or, take on an apprentice and teach!
Plaited candles are extremely attractive and well worth the trouble, but don’t try to learn how to plait using candles! It’s a wise move to make a few simple attempts at plaiting, or braiding, three waxed wicks together. Start with plain cords, then work with cords dipped in a few coatings of wax (vestas), and then move on to progressively thicker tapers until you are confident you can handle the regular size tapers.
Be prepared for this to feel a bit clumsy at first (unless you’ve done a lot of hair braiding!), but don’t let that discourage you from perfecting the skill. It’s truly worth the effort for the artistic results you can obtain by plaiting tapers. And you automatically get a multiwick candle as there are three wicks to light!
Obviously, you need to work while the tapers are still warm so that they will be flexible. And the thinner your taper, the easier the braiding will be. Warm vestas are great to practice the braiding of tapers as you work your way up to the thicker, normal size, tapers. However, plaited, thick tapers in three colors are the ultimate goal of this technique. I’ve seen some that were real works of art! However, it’s best to start with modest objectives—just to learn the skill.
To begin to plait candles, you will need scissors, two pairs of freshly made dipped tapers (if you make them in pairs; otherwise, three tapers), a hook at a convenient working height (you may need to practice to figure out just where to place the hook), and a lot of patience. The candles should be approximately ½” in diameter and about 10” tall. You can also work with taller candles, up to 12”. Use what you regularly make.
If your candles become too cool and begin to stiffen while you are braiding, keep your blow-dryer handy and use it (on warm setting) to keep them soft and pliable. Just don’t use too much heat—you don’t want melted tapers!
If you are using pairs of tapers, separate one set and put one of the two candles aside for another use. Hang the second pair by its wick over the hook; tie the wick of the third candle to the hook. Make sure the tops of all three candles are at the same level.
Plait the three candles together. (Remember, we said you’d have to practice!) To facilitate the braiding, squeeze the bottom ends together smoothly and flatten the base with your hands so that it can support the finished candle without tipping over. You can use the method of melting the bottom of the finished candle to get a smooth, flat surface that is described on p. 100.
Once you’ve got the three candles braided together, hang them up on the hook and allow to cool and dry for at least one hour. Overnight is even better.
Another creative technique—less difficult than braiding but with a similar result—is to twist two warm tapers together after they have been dipped. (You aren’t required to twist the pair that was made together, so you can use two differently colored candles.) To do this, simply take the two tapers in your hands and twist them like you’d wring out a washcloth, but gently.
Once you’ve twisted the pair of candles, you can then overdip them, either for color or to give a more finished look to your now double-wicked taper. Twisted tapers give a sophisticated look to a table set for a dinner party—especially if the candles are color-keyed to your décor or theme.
Candlemaker Betty Oppenheimer, author of The Candlemaker’s Companion, says that she finds twisted tapers “particularly beautiful in beeswax.” And, since beeswax when warm is quite sticky, twisted beeswax tapers would stick together nicely. It’s worth a try!
When you finish the twisted candle, remember to slice off the bottoms to make a flat surface. Twisted tapers will require a larger candleholder than regular tapers. These can often be improvised. If the candleholder isn’t snug enough, melt a little wax into the bottom of it to help the twisted taper adhere securely.
Alternatively, you can squeeze the bottom ends tightly together so the finished candle will fit into a regular sized holder. Or, you can start with thinner tapers.
Another advanced technique that gives interesting results is that of winding the waxed wick around something. Use the method for making vestas (see p. 170), and a long wick—the length will depend on the object around which you plan to wind the wick. You can premeasure it with plain string.
To practice this method, you are going to wind the waxed wick around an object—any simple shaped object will do, such as a plastic pharmacy bottle (the kind pills are sold in). First practice with a piece of cord dipped in wax a few times. Don’t waste wick material before you have acquired the skill to wind the waxed wick neatly and attractively.
For practice, the important thing is to take care to wind the waxed cord symmetrically, either with the rings overlapping or touching each other. You can remelt your practice wax after you’ve finished your session with it.
To be honest, it’s not easy to make a truly attractive job of winding a waxed wick (which is what a taper basically is), but it is possible to achieve some excellent results with this technique. To prepare the waxed wick for winding, use the “drawing” method (see p. 55). The wick should be slender, and about 40” long. After each wax bath, hang it straight (a nail is good) until the wax hardens. Repeat the procedure until you have a slender taper.
Once you have finished winding the wick around the object (small blocks of wood work well as do slender tubes of glass or small, smooth drinking glasses), remove the core form, allowing a small length of the taper to protrude at the top for lighting. You can burn your tapers made from winding wax as you would use any other candle.
There are beautiful winding tapers from the early nineteenth century that have been preserved as works of art. Some are extremely intricate, often made on carved blocks of wood as showpieces. The women who made them (housewives for the most part) were proud of their work, much as quilters of the same period displayed their best designs but did not use them. These elegant tapers were never lit. In a way, that’s a good thing, or we would not have such examples to admire today.
Spiral twisted candles are extremely attractive on the dinner table and not too difficult to make, once you get the hang of it. This is a marvelous and fairly easy advanced technique for shaping tapers. The only equipment you need is a rolling pin and a flat hard surface for rolling (a cutting board, for example), a knife, and a freshly dipped, warm taper about 1” in diameter and 10” tall.
Lay the taper on the board and roll it out just as you would dough for biscuits or pie crust. Flatten the candle from the top end, leaving an inch or so at the bottom unrolled, to fit into the candleholder. If the candle should crack while you are rolling, it has cooled too much. You need to work fairly quickly with this technique. If you do get a crack, re-dip the candle (having kept your wax pot handy) for two or three seconds in 160° wax to soften it. If it merely begins to stiffen but hasn’t yet cracked, you can soften it with your blow-dryer.
Once you have it flattened, hold the taper upside down, holding it at the base with one hand. Place the flattened end (now on the bottom) between the thumb and forefinger of your other hand. Sliding the candle upwards between your fingers, turn it into a spiral as you lift. You can make a wide twist, or you can repeat the process for a tighter twist. This technique sounds easier than it actually is, but you can practice first on a plain candle that you can easily remelt before going on to work with colored candles.
Color can be used creatively in many ways that allow you to express your creative nature, be decorative, have fun, or even use up your leftover colored wax. Color doesn’t have to be simple, although certainly beautifully colored tapers and pillars are wonderful to have around and to burn for any occasion—or none at all, just to fit or lift your mood.
This interesting technique is the polar opposite of overdipping. It might be called “innerdipping.” What you do here is pour wax into a mold, and then pour it right back out, leaving a thin coating on the inside of the mold. As you do this, layers of color are built up on each other inside the mold, which means inside the finished candle.
There are many ways you can utilize this method, with different colors and different waxes. Remember that the last pour forms the core of the candle. You will need a fairly strong color to show through the outer layer, and a fairly thin outer layer of harder wax. Of course, you don’t need to limit yourself to two colors, but it’s a good idea to begin learning the technique using the simpler method.
Using paraffin for the outer layer provides a translucent effect so the inner core of color glows through. Because paraffin is softer than waxes with additives, mind the temperature of the inner wax to avoid a meltdown. (If the colors do bleed together, however, it could give an interesting effect.
When dying the wax for the last pour, you should use approximately four times the amount of dye that you would use for overdipping, unless you want a pale-on-pale effect. Generally speaking, the stronger colors work best here.
As for molds, any kind of mold will do, but flexible molds give the best results because with them the color will be thicker in some areas of the candle than others (say, with a figurine). This thick-thin distribution of color through the finished candle creates nice variations of show-through. Beginners are advised to stick to simple shapes. Cylindrical and block shaped molds work great for making pour-in/pour-out color show-through candles. Or, try a star shaped mold for something a bit more fancy.
Here’s the “how to” of the pour-in/pour-out method. You’ll need a mold. Any kind will do, but flexible may be best. You’ll need enough wax to fill the mold twice—once for each color.
Wick the mold according to the instructions on p. 122, or by whatever method a special mold might require.
Fill the mold with wax heated to 180° Fahrenheit and let it cool long enough for an eighth of an inch layer to form inside the mold.
Pour off the wax that is still liquid and wait about ten minutes for the inner layer to solidify.
Fill the mold with the colored wax that will form the core of the candle, heated to 180°. Allow the second pour to cool for two hours.
Poke holes in the wax (as described on p. 124) to eliminate air bubbles and then add more melted wax to fill in the gaps.
Allow the candle to cool inside the mold for two hours before removing it. Don’t forget to use a mold release agent suitable to the type of wax you are using for the first pour, or the outer layer.
If the outer layer doesn’t seem quite thick enough, you can strengthen the finished pour-in/pour-out candle by overdipping it in clear wax. Finish up with a plunge into cold water to make the candle shine, and polish with nylon pantyhose or a soft buffing cloth.