I'm going to show you how to make floating candles, because you never know when you're going to find yourself in some kind of floating candle emergency situation. Like an impromptu dinner party or shotgun wedding reception.
Making floating candles is a little project that has immense reward with very little effort. Almost none in fact; if you can light a candle, you can make a floating candle. If you cannot light a candle you have my condolences on account of the fact you're just a torso.
There isn't a single night all year long that I don't have candles burning. It all goes back to when I was 4 years old and my mother bought me a pillar birthday candle that had age markings on the side like this horrifyingly ugly one on Amazon ( that I LOVE ).
1 year at the top, all the way down to 13 years at the bottom. Every birthday I got to haul the candle out of the basement, scrape the dried up centipedes off it and burn it down a full year. To this day I remember that candle yet I do not remember a single present I got from the age of 1 - 13.
So ... floating candles. They aren't exactly revolutionary but the fact that you can make them out of candles you probably already own is.
All you need are tea lights, which I'm sure 90% of you have shoved in a drawer right now, and one little tip.
How to Make a Floating Candle Out of a Tea Light.
1. Remove your tea light candle from its aluminium cup and flip the candle over.
2. Light another candle (a taper candle is the easiest to work with) and drip some wax from it onto the underside of the tea light until the metal wick holder on the bottom is completely sealed.
Just line all your tea lights up on a surface you can scrape the dripped wax off of and do them in bulk.
Stick your candles into a bowl, pond, toilet or bathtub and admire. You just made DIY floating candles because you are a DIY badass. And maybe a little lazy and cheap because you didn't just go to the store to buy some floating candles. Join the club.
When they're prepped like this the candles will last between 45 minutes and 1½ hours depending on the size of the tea light candle.
How to Make Floating Candles.
Make some floating candles out of ordinary tea lights.
Materials
- tea light candles
- taper candle (optional)
Instructions
- Remove the tea light from its metal cup.
- Light a taper candle and drip it over the base of the tea light, sealing the bottom. Let the melted wax solidify.
- Float candles in water.
Notes
- Floating tea lights don't last as long. A small tea light that would normally burn for 2-3 hours will burn for 30-45 minutes in water.
- The bigger the candle, the longer it will last in the water.
- Freezing the candle doesn't make it last longer (I tested this out).
- For bigger floating candles, use the cheap candles you can buy in a glass holder. Dollar stores like Dollarama or Dollar Tree have them. Just set the glass candle holder in a bowl of hot water to loosen the candle inside and pull it out. Seal the bottoms the same way. These larger candles will burn for around 2 hours.
- Candles with a slightly smaller bottom than top float better than candles with straight sizes.
Want to make floating taper candles? You can do that too. Here's my tutorial on how to do it.
TIPS
- For bigger floating candles, use the cheap candles you can buy in a glass holder. Dollar stores like Dollarama or Dollar Tree have them. Just set the glass candle holder in a bowl of hot water to loosen the candle inside and pull it out. Seal the bottoms the same way. These larger candles will burn for around 2 hours.
- Candles with a slightly smaller bottom than top float better than candles with straight sizes.
- Freezing the candles prior to burning them will NOT make them last longer. I tested it.
These make a fast and easy centrepiece for that impromptu dinner party you might have. Float a flower or two in a bowl with some floating candles and you're automatically inducted into the Martha Stewart hall of fame. Extra Martha points if you use white candles.
I do not have impromptu dinner parties, but you might. I'm more of an "I like to think about having dinner parties but mainly read cookbooks while watching Netflix instead " kind of gal.
That's all there is to making floating candles out of regular candles. Just seal up any area on the bottom where water might be able to get in, stick the candles in water, light them and wait for the compliments to come rolling in.
Of course, if you're just a torso you will come rolling in too.
Thanks, for sharing! Super useful info :)
Well if you think this is super useful, wait'll you get to my post on how to cure a yeast infection, lol. Now *that's* useful! :) ~ karen
Good thing I found your article!
I was scratching my head trying to figure out why the tealights for my wedding centerpieces were going out in a matter of minutes when they should be lasting at least 2-3 hrs.
I thought I had to spend extra money to go and buy floating candles.
Thank you!
Does the wax get into the water? Sometime to "top it off" would be a beautiful bata fish in the bowl with thecandles? Do Any one else think that would be pretty
Six years later, I want to know about what happens to the wax, too, before having to go through the drudgery of scraping wax from a container. Guess I'd better just try one in something non-flammable that I can toss out.
Hi Karen,
after reading the first part of your tutorial, I got a tealight and put it in a wineglass of water-left the little tin thing on, and, voila! it floats!
Yesterday I ran all over town looking for floating candles and finally found some - 6 for 7 bucks. lit it last night and it burned for about a half an hour then got water in the little well in the top and that was it. Tried it again this morning and the same thing happened. I have a gazillion tealights so now I have a gazillion floating tealights. Who knew?
7 years later - the instruction is to remove the metal cup that the candles come in, and seal the remaining candle bottom metal with wax. There would be no "well."
Oh my goodness!! This is fantastic. Thank you.
You, madam, are incredible. Do you know that you just saved my event planning committee a TON of money with this tip?
We can put the savings to terrific use.
THANK YOU :)
Just saw this and wondered, would this work as well with the long-life tealights that are a little bigger?
Awesome, awesome, awesome!! I just tried your tip for my wedding centerpieces - totally beats paying $12 for 6 floating candles! You rock!!
This is genius! Of course, I won't be using the candles in a bowl so much as in a lake, but thanks! This is just the information I needed.
Glad to hear it Jed! Good luck with your lake candles. :) ~ karen
Hi again,
For getting wax out of its container, put the container with the wax in the freezer and, once frozen, the wax will slide right out. Use this all the time. Don't really know how long to leave it though as I usually forget it until the next time I need something from the freezer. Just keep checking it if you do remember. This way there's no chance of a glass container cracking in the heat.
Cathy
Hi,
Have burned many tealights as floaters but never tried the sealing for the bottom. Great idea!
You can also make floaters with the tealights in their little cups. I prefer the look of using the clear plastic cups or glass cups. Try to be gentle while setting them on the water. I usually end up getting water on the top and then can't get them lit. Perseverance does work though!
Cathy
Amazing Great photography - these look like the Floating Candles.... wow!
I just found this on Google today. THANK YOU! I live in a small place and cannot find floating candles ANYWHERE for my wedding in 17 days! Quick question though, did you try the freezer/fridge thing, and how did it work if you did? Thanks :)
Kourtney - I did try it, and in my experience it didn't make any difference with these candles. Keep in mind for your wedding, these candles won't last the whole night. Of course, the bigger the candle, the longer it'll last but these which are fairly small shouldn't be lit until the last second! Congratulations! ~ karen
Id like to make a suggestion (if i may..)
The other day I was in our cheapie shop and stood staring blankly at the tealight candles. I was sure I wanted them for something... that was a week ago :)
Its dawned on me.. I wanted them to try this! So was wondering .. is it possible for you to make your site mobile friendly so that I can look at it for ideas whilst in the cheap cheap shop?
~b
Bex - I believe so. I tried it once before but I actually didn't like the look of it. I'll give it another shot just for you and your Dollar Store shopping, though. :) ~ karen
Karen, LOVE it, I and II!! Thanks so much!!
I've done that myself with the tea lights, but I hadn't thought to seal the bottoms. :) Thanks for a very helpful/great tip!
No problem! You'll find they last quite a bit longer. Not as long as they normally would, but longer than if you just plunked them in water w/out sealing the bottom. ~ k!
Genius! I'm doing this right now!
Bowls represent the womb y'know - a girl can't have too many of them.
Don't know what the candles signify.
Tricia - I imagine they represent setting yourself on fire when you go to the doctor and find out you have multiple wombs. ~ karen
GREAT retort.
I would like to book a room at your house for the weekend please :) The serenity is beckoning me! Love the tip, I'll be playing with tea lights this weekend.
Love candles (and bowls of course!) but just can't have naked flames with a couple of Newfoundland dogs frolicking about with giant flappy (and flammable) tails! Plus any bowl of water would soon end up on the floor after a good slurpy drink (the dogs again... not me.)