Melbourne brand Blazed Wax on how to make your own hand-dipped candle

An excerpt from ‘Blazed Wax’, the debut book from the duo behind Melbourne’s cult-favourite candles.

We have been friends for more than ten years – some might call us twin flames. We met at a music festival, having a boogie in a field under the Milky Way. A big part of our friendship is our love for all things creative. Emma studied fashion and runs her own clothing label; Ruby studied fine art and runs her own jewellery label.

We share a studio space and also a home – a big, old Californian bungalow in Melbourne, where we live with our matching poodles, Bilbo and Beanie. We love styling our home with candles made by us and by others – we find an eclectic mix is what makes a wonderful space.

For more interior inspiration, check out our Life vertical. 

We have a large collection of candles lugged home from trips to Mexico, India, Italy, Greece and the United States, which takes pride of place on our shelves. Our house is also filled with beautiful candelabras and candlestick holders, most of which we have found at local secondhand and vintage shops.

We follow creative pursuits together, including still-life painting, mosaics and ceramics (Emma is great on the wheel and Ruby paints the fired product). During the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, one of the many activities we immersed ourselves in was candle-making and we fell in love with it straight away. We loved it so much that we wanted to start sharing it with others. Emma brought her styling and business skills, Ruby brought her artistic and sculptural background, we experimented and researched and our first co-venture, Blazed Wax, was born.

Our love for candles goes beyond styling. We are both from European families and a huge part of our cultures is sitting together over food and being proud of our table presentation. We both grew up in small rural towns, where the power would frequently go out and there was nothing more exciting than sitting around by candlelight during a blackout, waiting for someone to turn the generator back on.

We especially love to cook and host dinners for friends, filling the table with an abundance of candles and flowers. It makes every meal special, elevated by flickering light. The ritual of dressing the table to share food with the ones we love has been the cornerstone of our friendship.

The most beautiful thing about making candles together is the merging of our ideas and talents: learning from and inspiring each other. This collaboration is the pillar (pun intended) of our venture together.

Standing proud

Self-standing hand-dipped candle

If you don’t have a candle holder or candelabra but like the look of a hand-dipped candle, then create a candle that will stand on its own! We love making these en masse in different colours, then scattering them on a table setting surrounded by flowers and food. It’s very important to make sure the candles stand on their own, so make sure they balance perfectly before lighting up.

Making the candle

You will need

• Wax of your choice (we use soy wax or beeswax)
• Coloured dye of your choice (optional)
• Wick of your choice (we are using a pre-coated one, but a plain cotton wick will work too)

Shape up

You can use the basis of this technique to create a hand-dipped candle in any shape you like! Wiggle your wick while in the wax so it’s wonky like a snake. Tie your wick in knots to give your candle a bulbous effect. Knot the base of your wick into a flower. Or use both ends of the wick to make a U-shaped standing candle.

Follow steps one to five of the Dinner party candle on page 55, adding dye to the wax if you wish. Once you have achieved your desired thickness, take the bottom of the candle and bend it on a 90-degree angle, then curl that part around so it can act as a stand for the main part of your candle. Balance it on a surface to test that it can stand up on its own.

Once you are satisfied the candle will stand up, gently put it in a fresh vessel of cold water and hold it in that shape to help set the wax. To further support the candle as it continues to harden, you can rest the base on the table and peg the wick upright to a clothes-drying rack or a dish rack placed on its side.