Yule Candle Making

I needed a Yule candle for the center of our Yule log, and I wanted it to be unique. So, I decided to make my own! My mom and I ended up making it together and that made it really special! Here are the ingredients and supplies that we used to make our candle:

I found vegan soy wax at a craft store last summer and still had some left. I think it was $9.99 for a two pound bag and I used 9 1/2 oz for this candle. I also had one wick left, but it wasn’t in the packaging. You should be able to find both wax and wicks in the candle-making supplies at any large craft store.

We already had vanilla orange essential oil which I found at my local crystal shop. Our Whole Foods also has a good selection of essential oils. We used dried mint and rosemary leaves from our garden, whole nutmeg and a cinnamon stick from our spice shelf, and the zest of one large orange:

I got this jar at Meijer for $3.99. It is about 3″ in diameter and 3 3/4″ tall:

We put a small saucepan with about two inches of water on medium-high heat until it came to a boil. Then, we added a bowl with the soy wax to make a double boiler, and turned the heat down to just keep the water at a simmer:

We got the herbs and spices ready while waiting for the wax to melt:

I also used a little bit of the melted wax to glue the wick in place:

As soon as the wax under the wick had cooled, I added more melted wax around and over the base of the wick to really bond the wick to the glass. I had problems with the hot wax for the candle melting the wax holding the wick last time I made candles, so I wanted to be sure there was a thick layer of cooled wax holding it in place this time:

Once the wax was fully melted, we added the essential oil. My mom added about a teaspoon before it smelled like we wanted it to:

Then we added the orange zest, herbs, and spices:

My mom stirred to combine everything and it smelled amazing!

I added a little of the candle mixture and let it set around the wick, then my mom poured in the rest:

Here is the finished candle:

We are so pleased with how our Yule candle turned out! We will be starting a 21 day Yule countdown beginning this Thursday, November 30th (more on that in the next post) and that is why we needed to make our Yule candle so early. We will be holding a short candle ritual at sundown, and then doing a Yule activity every evening. We invite you to join us on our countdown so be sure to check out my next post for the details!