OFCILynn Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Hello All. I am new to Candletech.com and am so glad that I found this site! Woohoo for google.com and their search capabilities. I am desperately searching for CARVED candle making instructions. My husband and I are renewing our wedding vows for our 20th wedding anniversary and are having a formal ceremony with unity candles. I have searched everywhere but am unable to find a nice unity carved candle with 3 hearts to help us represent the past, present and future. Thus, I want to make my own!! I will not be learing to carve candles JUST for our renewal as I LOVE candles of all kinds and just adore the carved ones the best. I am a diabled wife/mother and this would be a excellant way for me to earn a extra income for our family also. I live in the North/Eastern part of Mississippi and it is nearly impossible to find supply stores in our area let alone stores that carry the carved candles. If anyone can assist me or direct me to where I can find online instructions without spending thousands of dollars, I would be ever so grateful!!Also, if there are any candle carvers out there that feel that they can make a triple heart candle for me, I would love to talk with you further and you may contact me at ofci@ofci.biz .Thank You ALL,God Bless,OFCILynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 How long have you alloted yourself to learn? Because carving is an art, like anything else, and takes patience and PRACTICE!! lol I've been carving for well over a year, and am still not that great at it. There is a book out that is actually a pretty good tutorial on carving. The name is simple it's called: Cut & Carve Candles and it's by Dana Marie Brooks. Good luck. It is a lot of fun to do. Here's a hint, if you end up wanting to buy them, look up Bruce. Not sure if he takes orders, but he carves B-E-A-U-tiful candles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OFCILynn Posted January 22, 2006 Author Share Posted January 22, 2006 Thank you for your response. I am not new to crafting and understand that it will take me a long time to learn the craft of carving candles but it is something that I have always wanted to learn. I figure it this way, if I can learn to make our own unity candle for our anniversary, thats GREAT, if not, Ill be stuck buying one off the internet which are beautiful but not to our specifications. Either way, I will have beautiful candles for our renewal and Ill learn a wonderful craft that I will be advancing in skills for many years to come!! I have already ordered the book that you mentioned before your posting and am awaiting its arrival! Thanks so much!! I have found a few books online but am having a hard time finding any that help teach the cut and curl heart method! Do you happen to know if this book includes that craft?Thanks so much again!!OFCILynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcandleattic Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 It does include the heart. But I'm not sure if it goes into a lot of detail about the heart. It does go into detail about each cut though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaybee23 Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 If you can catch or email Brucecarveswax on here, he has been doing it for 25 years and could probably either do it for you or give you some informaiton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceCarvesWax Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 I got your email, my computer is screwed up so I cant reply to emails, just read them! LOL I know.... it sucks. If you were going to make one yourself, you might get it done for cheap, but thats with the most basic materials. You will need a mold to pour your core candles with, wick, knives, wax (the right kind helps when your new) dip tanks or something large enough to dip your core candle in (6 inch diam x 15 inch tall would work, best to have two of them) Heater like a turkey roaster to put your tubes of wax in. If you bought a starter setup from the net, you will be looking at 1000.00 min I think. If you want to just play with trying to make one in the next few months you could use the items above and read up on it and you might be able to come up with something in that amount of time. I have made all heart wedding candles before, but not sure if you want the hearts to be interlocked together or not? Since you dont need these right away, "maybe" I can think up something for you if you dont want to make it yourself. There are other carvers here too, jump right in and speak up if you have a idea or want to make one for them. It will take me a few months to get dug out anyway. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OFCILynn Posted January 23, 2006 Author Share Posted January 23, 2006 Thank you all for your suggestions and advise. The recommended book is on its way already to me from Amazon. Im glad that this is the book that I chose after careful research as it has since been recommended to me after my purchase! Bruce, God Bless you hon for going into a bit more detail for me. From my own research, and PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, I THINK I need to use IGI 1343 wax. Am I correct? I already own a couple Presto pots that I was about to throw out that I just found a new use for! LOL I also have a old time turkey roaster that will be perfect to use. Do you use star shapped tapers or completely make tapers from scratch and build them up to make the complete candle? IF you do use or make your own tapers, and forgive me for probably using the wrong terminology here, I think you understand what I am attempting to say, do you use the same wax to max the shapped tapers/molds as you do to redip to make the carved candle? I am trying to figure out more of some of the starter suppleis that I need to get to work on these before I dish out a major investment and do this "right" as some would say or more professional. I am pretty crafty and know how to improvise but causing fires or hazzards is not something I want to do so I do want to make sure that I start with caution! Bruce, have you even used FO's in your carved candles?? Does the FO weaken the wax too much to work wtih when carving?I hadnt wanted the three hearts for the large unity candle to be intertwined however, I was thinking that if they were stacked on top of one another, the tail ends could maybe be inside of the heart below it!?? Since I am not sure how they are even made, just an idea, I have no idea of what I am talking about, just an observation that I noticed. Even if the hearts werent connected in any way, that is fine. We would just like three carved n' curled hearts on front.Thanks again so much for everyones help!! God Bless,OFCILynn:wave: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SatinDucky Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Good luck on the heart candle. With time and practice, I'm sure you could learn. Just something to keep in mind, if you're hoping for some extra income from making candles, you might want to reasearch it here some first. Unless you have the funds to learn and test with. Many here didn't see any profit for a year or two. I'm going on a year myself and am down probably about 2 grand now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OFCILynn Posted January 23, 2006 Author Share Posted January 23, 2006 Hi,Yes, I am becoming more and more aware of the large expense this can be. I will be doing this for personal use and gifts to start out with for quite a while Im sure. I have alot to learn and that can really only be done after continuous research like I have been doing, and doing and doing and doing some more. I make many crafts and I know from those experiances that it takes alot to make a little when doing crafts when getting started especially!! I love candles and can never have enough of them in my home and most of my family likes candles and aromatherapy scents so even if this didnt turn out to be a profitable income opportunity for ME< I will have fun learning and enjoying what I make for us!! I am a perfectionist so I know just that alone is going to cost me some $$$$$! LOL I refuse to think about selling a product that I didnt swear by and stand behind. That will be my name or logo on those products, I wont sell less that the best that I can produce after long trials and errors. I know what I want as a consumer and if I sold my products, I would expect to give that quality and more to my buyers!!! Sooooooo.........for quite a while, this is for me to help make my wedding renewal more special and personable!!!!Thanks all and God Bless,OFCILynnofci@ofci.biz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceCarvesWax Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Thank you all for your suggestions and advise. The recommended book is on its way already to me from Amazon. Im glad that this is the book that I chose after careful research as it has since been recommended to me after my purchase! Bruce, God Bless you hon for going into a bit more detail for me. From my own research, and PLEASE correct me if I am wrong, I THINK I need to use IGI 1343 wax. Am I correct? I already own a couple Presto pots that I was about to throw out that I just found a new use for! LOL I also have a old time turkey roaster that will be perfect to use. Do you use star shapped tapers or completely make tapers from scratch and build them up to make the complete candle? IF you do use or make your own tapers, and forgive me for probably using the wrong terminology here, I think you understand what I am attempting to say, do you use the same wax to max the shapped tapers/molds as you do to redip to make the carved candle? I am trying to figure out more of some of the starter suppleis that I need to get to work on these before I dish out a major investment and do this "right" as some would say or more professional. I am pretty crafty and know how to improvise but causing fires or hazzards is not something I want to do so I do want to make sure that I start with caution! Bruce, have you even used FO's in your carved candles?? Does the FO weaken the wax too much to work wtih when carving?I hadnt wanted the three hearts for the large unity candle to be intertwined however, I was thinking that if they were stacked on top of one another, the tail ends could maybe be inside of the heart below it!?? Since I am not sure how they are even made, just an idea, I have no idea of what I am talking about, just an observation that I noticed. Even if the hearts werent connected in any way, that is fine. We would just like three carved n' curled hearts on front.Thanks again so much for everyones help!! God Bless,OFCILynn:wave:1343 is fine, for a mold you would want a 10 inch tall 6 point star taper mold. I only had dip the tapers to make carved tapers to go with the wedding candles i make. The book will help answer lots of your questions too. Scent is not really a option since it add OIL to the candle and the layers will not stick together, wax has to be dry to stick good. If you cut into it you would have 30 layers of wax going everywhere.... i tried it once, just on the core candle and it sucked real bad. LOL HTH Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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