Tutorial: DIY Tea Cup Candles

Last year I posted about the pretty teacup candles I’d made, and as I spent one morning at the weekend creating a couple more, I thought it would be nice to post a little “how to” guide. They’re so easy to make, and considering how lovely they are and how much companies charge for them, this is a very rewarding craft project.

What you’ll need:

• Tea cups
• Eco Soya Wax
• Candle wick – you’ll need to select the correct thickness based on the diameter of your cups
• Metal wick tabs
• Wooden skewers
• Tape
• Blu tack
• Scissors
• Large pan and small saucepan
• Scent

The method:

• Create a ban marie with the pans. Half fill the large pan with water and place the small pan inside it.

• Measure the wax. I found I needed twice the volume of my chosen cups in wax flakes to create enough of the melted wax to fill them.
• Put the wax into the smaller pan and heat on a medium heat to melt it.  

• Once the wax is melted, add any scent you’ve chosen. I used specific candle scent, which I’ve read you need 1oz of oil for 1lb of wax. However, the ginseng oil I was using wasn’t a particularly strong scent so I added extra. I’ve also read you can use essential oil instead, which I’ll try next time!

• Cut a length of the wick longer than the height of the cup, pull through the metal tab, and use a small blob of blue tack to stick the tab to the bottom of the inside of the cup.

• Use two skewers taped together to hold the wick upright inside the cup.

• Pour the melted wax into the cup and leave to harden. Don’t move the cup until it is solid, and I also lightly covered mine so that no specks of dust would land on the soft wax surface.

• Trim the wick

They make lovely gifts!