Rolled beeswax taper candles might just be the easiest candles to make, ever! BUT, they can tricky. Here are tips to make them so they are smooth, professional looking, and fit into your candle holders.
Table of Contents
- About rolled beeswax taper candles
- Materials
- Instructions
- How much does it cost to make your, own rolled beeswax taper candles?
- How to use rolled beeswax taper candles
About rolled beeswax taper candles
For someone who has now been making candles for a few years (Hello pandemic hobby!), it took me a while to get into taper candles, because they seem kind of hard to make. They make me think of “real” candle makers who have a big vat of wax that they dip their wicks into. That’s one way to do it (that one day I will try). But there are actually a few differents ways to make beautiful taper candles.
First of all, what is a taper candle? The easiest way to describe it is that taper candles are candlesticks. They are the ones that you envision when you think of a romantic candlelit dinner. Two beautiful long candles burning in elegant candlestick holders.
Like this:
Other than the beforementioned dipping method, there are two other ways to make tapers. 1) You can use a mold. I have done this and they are really easy to do with beeswax and turn out fantastic. But today we are working on method 2) Rolled beeswax tapers. These candles use beeswax sheets, that are, these days, basically made for this purpose. However, this craft started by using beeswax sheets that are really designed for beekeeping.
I love taper candles, of all varieties, because they really do add an elegant touch to your table and create a mood. They basically say to the world, “I’m hella sophisticated.” So let’s make some!
Materials
The awesome thing about this project is that you need very few supplies. You will need:
Some beeswax sheets. I got mine from Betterbee.com, which is based in Greenwich, New York, and has all kinds of beeswax and beekeeping supplies, as well as bayberry wax. They carry beeswax sheets in a wide range of colors; I went with Ivory because it’s classic and sophisticated. For the holidays, I can totally see myself buying some red and green as well. And they do have variety packs. As of this writing, they are $30 for a 10-pack, which will make at least 20 candles. You can save more by buying in bulk.
Note: If you happen to have some on hand that are actually made for beekeeping, you can use these, but you will need to remove the metal wires that make it stable enough to use in a hive. While the wax is cold (you might put it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so prior), use plyers to carefully, but quickly, remove the wires. Some wax may dislodge, but you might be surprised at how little that matters. I wouldn’t purposely buy this kind of beeswax sheet for this project, but if you have some, this will work just fine.
4/0 square braided cotton wick. I was gifted this spool of wick so I can’t tell you where it came from, but it’s widely available. Here is one source that sells it for $6.99 for 100 ft, plus shipping, which is enough to make loads and loads of these. Generally, you’ll need about 9 inches or so per candle.
A pair of scissors
A small wooden craft dowel is helpful, but not completeley necessary.
A heating pad, a seedling heat mat, a hairdryer, heat gun, or warm countertop will also come in handy, particuarly if you are trying to make these on a cool day.
Rather watch the video. Here you go:
Instructions
- These come in a standard size, which is the size of a bee super – the box that beekeepers use to keep bees. You can cut these in various ways to make different heights of tapers, but the easiest thing is to cut these in half so you have pretty much a square to work with. This will give you a candle this is 8 inches tall and about 3/4 inches wide. And this also gives you two perfect tapers per beeswax sheet. So cut that bad boy in half with a bread knife.
- Now, cut your wick an inch longer than your beeswax sheet.
- Warm your wax a bit. Warming the wax will make it way easier to roll, will make your taper neater and tighter. I happen to have a seedling heat mat that is designed to give a small amount of heat to seedlings as you grow them. I lay my sheets on this mat for about an hour before I begin. You could also use a heating pad on the lowest setting, or a hair dryer or heat gun, or even a hot counter. You don’t want them to melt AT ALL, but you want them to get to a state of plyability. Ideally it will be a bit floppy.
- Lay your wick right on the edge of the wax and crimp the wax over the wick. You’re just trying to get a roll started. If you do any baking or pastry making, this will feel very natural for you.
- Now, I like to use a dowel to get the roll started. I start wrapping the beeswax around the dowel just to get a circular shape going. But I don’t wrap it all the way around the dowel. The dowel is also helpful in keeping the roll going straight. You might want to watch my YouTube video here if this isn’t making sense.
- Keep rolling, trying to keep it as tight and straight as possible. Wax is pretty forgiving, so don’t stress too much. You can fix a lot of it after the fact, but do try to get it straight and tight.
- When you finish rolling, you’ll have a seam at the end. If your wax is nice and warm, all it takes is a firm finger across the seam to kind of meld it into the wax. Again, think pastry making. Then give it a good roll on your counter to seal it in and make it round in case you smooshed it a bit in the process.
- Look at your taper and decide which end looks nicer. That’s your top. On the ugly end, cut the wick flush with end of the candle. Use your counter to shape the bottom as you’d like. If you want it flat, just tap it on the counter a few times. If the bottom is very uneven, you can trim it with a serrated bread knife, though I recommend chilling it in the fridge for an hour first.
- Trim the top wick so it’s 1/2 an inch long. Don’t leave a long wick on it, especially if you’re giving it as a gift. That’s a fire hazard, and we don’t want that.
- To get them to fit perfectly in your candleholders, while the wax is still warm (warm it up with a hair dryer/heat gun if its not), try to fit your taper into your candleholder. If it fits perfect, great! If it’s too big, use your fingers and the counter to create a cone shape on the bottom. Then fit it into the candleholder and twist. If it’s too small, buy this stuff.
- At this point, I like to chill them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. After that, I can trim the bottoms so they all match and are neat and tidy. At that point, I put them in my candle holders or store them for later use or selling.
- I plan to sell some of these at a Christmas craft market that I do each year. I’m packaging these in pairs of two. So I make these in batches and pair them with ones that are about the same width and height. Then after chilling, I trim the bottom with a serrated knife so they are the same height. I’ll make some paper bellybands to keep them together.
How much does it cost to make your, own rolled beeswax taper candles?
So all of us crafters know that half the time we make something ourselves, it actually costs a lot more than just buying it from a store. I don’t sweat that too much because I like to know that I can make something myself, and I also assume that my materials are of a higher quality. However, with this craft, you really can make this more affordably than you can buy them.
To make 20 eight-inch tall tapers will cost you $30 for the wax and $7 for the wick, and say $5 for shipping. That’s $42 total divided by 20 equals $2.10 each. I’ve often seen a pair of these tapers for sale at gift shops or Etsy for $15 to $18. So these are actually a deal to make yourself, and theyr’e so easy!
How to use rolled beeswax taper candles
I love to have something on my dining room table that looks elegant. In the summer, that’s fresh flowers, but the rest of the year, it usually involves candles. Since I am a bit neurotic about not burning down my house, I have these glass hurricane candle holders. With these, I know that even if I forget about them, they’ll be fine. That’s worth enough to me to buy these crazy expensive things from Pottery Barn. So please be safe while you’re burning these.
These are also really nice hostess or host gifts. You can just cut a piece of cardstock out and make a narrow bellyband that you seal with a hot glue gun or a piece of tape. Look how this shop packaged it on Etsy. I actually plan to gift the batch that I made for Christmas gifts this year. They are 100% natural (it’s just beeswax and cotton y’all) and I feel good about giving them.
I have these beautiful brass candlestick holders that my father-in-law gave me, that are desperately in need of a polish, but I keep these on my piano and I think my ivory tapers look fantastic here all year long. Probably for Thanksgiving, I’ll go ahead and move these to the table and light them. By the way, these burn SO GREAT. I have tested the recommended wick extensively and these burn clean with NO DRIPS!
We love to make candles, so don’t miss these other candlemaking posts on the blog:
How to clean beeswax for candles and crafts
The Easiest Way to Make Candles with Scents You Love & in Containers That Fit Your Decor
Make a candle out of your candle scraps
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