Christmas is just around the corner, so it’s time to start thinking about the candles that will take centre stage on your dining table on Christmas Day or lighting the mood for a cosy night in with your favourite festive film. For this, we’re going to show you our tried and tested recipe on how to make a red and white layered candle using Candy Cane fragrance oil.

The fabulous blend of refreshing peppermint, succulent strawberry and luscious vanilla will be created in true candy cane style using layers of Cerise dye chips alongside plain wax to replicate the look of those sweet, crunchy, mint treats.

Check out our intermediate level tutorial in our video below or read on for a detailed step by step written guide with images.

If you’re new to making candles, then our beginners guide on how to make your first scented candle should be your first port of call. Once you’ve mastered the basics, then come back to this intermediate tutorial to learn how to layer the colours in your candle.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Makes: 2 candles (around 36-38 hours burn time each when tested in 4 hour intervals)

Ingredients

• 368g Kerawax 4105 Paraffin Rapeseed Blend Container Wax
• 32g Candy Cane Fragrance Oil
• 2 x Cerise Candle Dye Chips

Materials

• 2 x Endessa Rocks 27cl Clear Container
• 2 x Wedo Eco12 Wicks
• Digital weighing scales
• Milk or digital thermometer
• Metal spoon
• 2 x Melting pots
• Stainless steel pan (a second pan is optional)
• 2 x Wick centring tools
• Wick stickers or glue dots
• Kitchen roll to protect your work surface
• Nitrile gloves (or similar protective gloves) and an apron. We’d also highly recommend the use of a chemical mask

Before starting, make sure your work surface is covered and you’re wearing the correct PPE as stated in the materials needed above. This is to avoid skin/respiratory irritation from the fragrance oil and to protect your clothes from any splashes.

Preparing Your Candle Glasses

To start, wash your candle glasses in warm soapy water before use. This ensures there is no dust or other residue on the glass that may have formed whilst in storage/transit. Make sure the glass is dried thoroughly once washed.

Once the glass is washed and dried, take your wicks and put a glue dot on the underneath of each sustainer (the metal base of the wick) and place in your glass, making sure to position it as central as possible.

Adhere the wick to the glass base by gently pushing down on the metal sustainer. Put the centring tool on the edge on the glass with the wick poking through the middle hole, ensuring it’s as straight as possible and push into the slot on the centring tool to hold in place.

Layer 1 - Plain

Step 1a – Weighing out the wax

Place one of the melting pots on your scales and turn on. Weigh out 184g of wax.

Step 1b – Melting the wax

Half fill your pan with cold water and place on your cooker/stove top. Sit the melting pot on top of the pan. Turn the hob/ring on and set to a medium - low heat. This is called the double-boiling method.

Top tip: The water in your pan should be no more than halfway up your melting pots bowl.

When the wax starts to melt (a visible pool of wax is forming), place the thermometer in the wax to check the temperature. Once the wax has fully melted and reaches 75-80 degrees Celsius, turn the hob off and take the pan off the heat.

Pro tip: Don’t leave your thermometer in the melting pot whilst the wax is melting as it will get hot from the water steam. Keep adding the thermometer to the wax at melting intervals to check it's not getting too hot.

Step 1c – Adding fragrance oil

Allow your wax to cool to 70 degrees Celsius. After carefully wiping the water off the bottom of the melting pot, place it on your scales and add 16g of Candy Cane fragrance oil. Stir continuously for around 90 seconds to ensure the fragrance oil is thoroughly mixed into the wax.

Step 1d – Pouring the wax into your candle glasses

After stirring, allow the wax to reach 65 degrees Celsius, tap the melting pot on your work surface a few times to knock out any air bubbles within the wax and then start to fill your candle glass, pouring slowly. You’ll want a layer of wax just less than 1cm deep in each glass.

Once poured sit on a heat resistant surface until needed.

Pro tip: We recommend pouring the wax closer to the glass and not against or too close to the wick. This will reduce the likelihood of sink holes or bubbles appearing once the wax has set.

Step 1e – Leave to set

You can move onto making the red wax whilst the first plain layer is setting. You’ll need around 30 minutes to allow the first layer of wax to set enough to pour the second layer.

Layer 2 - Red

Step 2a – Adding the dye chips

Add 2 Cerise dye chips to the second melting pot. The dye chips break easily or you can carefully cut them with a knife.

Step 2b – Weighing out the wax

Place the melting pot on your scales and turn on. Weigh out 184g of wax.

Step 2c – Melting the wax

There should be enough water in the pan for this step. Sit the melting pot on top of the pan and set to a medium - low heat.

When the wax starts to melt (a visible pool of wax is forming), place the thermometer in the wax to check the temperature. Once the wax has fully melted and reaches 75-80 degrees Celsius, take the pan off the heat.

Step 2d – Adding fragrance oil

Allow your wax to cool to 70 degrees Celsius. After carefully wiping the water off the bottom of the melting pot, place it on your scales and add 16g of Candy Cane fragrance oil. Stir continuously for around 90 seconds to ensure the fragrance oil is thoroughly mixed into the wax.

Step 2e – Pouring the wax into your candle glasses

After stirring, allow the wax to reach 65 degrees Celsius, tap the melting pot on your work surface a few times to knock out any air bubbles within the wax and then start to fill your candle glass, pouring slowly. You’ll want a layer of wax just less than 1cm deep in each glass.

Once poured sit on a heat resistant surface until needed.

Top tip: Don’t worry too much if the layers aren’t exactly 1cm deep. It’s purely the layered effect we’re after.

Step 2f – Leave to set

Allow the wax to set for around 30 minutes before moving onto the next layer.

Layer 3 - Plain

Step 3a – Melting the wax

There should still be enough water in your pan for this step. Turn the hob on low. You’ll want the wax to melt slowly so as not to burn off the fragrance oil. Once the wax has melted and reaches 65 degrees Celsius, take the pan off the heat.

Step 3b – Pouring the wax into your candle glasses

After wiping the water off the bottom of the melting pot, give the wax a little stir and start to fill your candle glasses, pouring slowly. You’ll want a layer of wax just under 1cm deep in each glass.

Step 3c – Leave to set

Allow the wax to set for around 30 minutes before moving onto the next layer.

Layer 4 - Red

Step 4a – Melting the wax

There should still be enough water in your pan for this step. If there isn’t, simply fill to no more than halfway up your pan and turn the hob on low. Again, you’ll want to melt the wax slowly so as not to burn off the fragrance oil. Once the wax has melted and reaches 65 degrees Celsius, take the pan off the heat.

Step 4b – Pouring the wax into your candle glasses

After wiping the water off the bottom of the melting pot, start to fill your candle glass, pouring slowly. You’ll want a layer of wax just under 1cm deep in each glass.

Step 4c – Leave to set

Allow the wax to set for around 30 minutes before moving onto the next layer.

Layer 5 - Plain

Step 5a – Melting the wax

There should be enough water in your pan for this step. Turn the hob on low. Once the wax has melted and reaches 65 degrees Celsius, take the pan off the heat.

Step 5b – Pouring the wax into your candle glasses

Start to fill your candle glass, pouring slowly. You’ll want a layer of wax just under 1cm thick in each glass.

Step 5c – Leave to set

Allow the wax to set for around 30 minutes before moving onto the final layer.

Layer 6 - Red

Step 6a – Melting the wax

There should still be enough water in your pan for this step. If there isn’t, simply fill to no more than halfway up your pan and turn the hob on low. Once the wax has melted and reaches 65 degrees Celsius, take the pan off the heat.

Step 6b – Pouring the wax into your candle glasses

Start to fill your candle glass, pouring slowly. This final layer will be around 5mm deep to finish off the candle.

Step 6c – Leave to set

Allow the wax to set fully for around 1-2 hours before touching or moving the glasses. Once fully set, trim the wicks to around 5mm.

Place the candles in a cool, dry area away from any heat or light sources and allow 4 days for the candle to fully cure. After this time, they’ll be ready to use.

Top Tip: On the first burn, always allow the candle to burn for 3-4 hours. This will allow the wax to form a melt pool that reaches as close to the glass edges as possible. Remember to continue to trim the wick to around 5mm after every burn.

The burn time of this candle is at least 36 hours (based on burning the candle in 4 hourly bursts at a time). During tests, the candles burned for just over 38 hours in total before there was 5mm of wax left in the glass.

With this tried and tested recipe you may not notice a full melt pool on your candle until during the third or fourth four hourly burn. It’s perfectly normal to not get a full melt pool on the first burn. The thin layer of wax on the glass will melt the further down the candle burns.

You may also notice that you get wet spots, where the set wax pulls away from the glass. You can help reduce the likelihood of this happening by pre-heating your candle glasses in an oven to around 45-50 degrees Celsius before pouring however, the wet spots may still appear whilst the candle isn’t in use.

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned how creative you can get when making coloured layer candles. Why not try using another colour in your layered candles or attempt multiple-coloured layers? We have a great range of coloured dye chips available, perfect for your candle making creations. You can create the most truly amazing Christmas layered candles using our selection of Christmas themed fragrance oils.

Struggling with issues in your candle creations? Take a look at our Candle Troubleshooting Guide here.

Want to try layered wax melts? Check out our post on Making Layered Wax Melts.

Looking for a helpful guide to accompany your candle burn tests? Download our FREE Candle Burn Test Sheets here.