Oil & Water Candles

Today, I made a candle using canola oil and water, and I think it came out really cute! 

See for yourself.

 

Here's the tutorial:

 (I went with a beach theme - you can use anything decorative that you like, as long as it's waterproof):

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Ample work space
• A glass container. (I got mine at Michael's.)
• Sand (Michael's)
• Seashells (Michael's)
• Starfish (Michael's)
• Decorative glass bits (Target)
• Sea glass (Dollar Store)
• Thin, clear plastic (I used the plastic bubble from the packaging of a toy)
• Wax-covered candle wicks (Michael's)
• Scissors
• A pencil (You can use the scissors for this if you're careful!)
• Canola Oil (This will probably work with any cooking oil that you have)
• Water
• A lighter or matches

STEP 1

Cut your plastic into a small piece - this will be to hold your wick. 

(You will only need 1 piece per candle, I just have multiple pictured to show you how they look! 

Also, I will probably make some more candles, so this saves me a step later.)

STEP 2

 Use a pencil (scissors) to poke a hole in the plastic for the wick.

STEP 3

Cut the wick into small pieces - about an inch long.

(Again, you only need one, I just wanted to show you and save a step later!)

STEP 4

Insert the wick into the plastic. 

You only need a little bit poking out - this piece is going to float, so you want most of the wick on one side.

STEP 5

Arrange your decorative items in your container.

STEP 6

Pour your water in very slowly, and down one side, as to not disturb your decorative items.

STEP 7

This is just where I added the last decorative item - the little glass bits. I wanted them scattered, and I wanted there to be air bubbles in my candle since it's beach themed. Feel free to skip this if you do not want air bubbles.

Your container should now look something like this:

STEP 8

Pour your oil in very slowly, and off to one side. 

You do not want it to sink down onto your decorative items - it needs to float above the water.

You can see in this picture how I poured it in too fast - see the dark part of the sand?

You want a layer of oil evenly across the top of your container, like this:

STEP 9

Place your floating wick into the container. 

It will sink into the oil, but float on the surface of the water because of the thin plastic.

STEP 10

Set your candle wherever you'd like and light it! It will burn steadily until all of the oil is burned up - then it will put itself out.

VOILA!