bottle cap candles TUTORIAL

how make tiny candles using old bottle caps! fun easy diy tutorial.

how to make candles with bottle caps

these tiny candles are a really fun to make and come together quickly. AND you can up-cycle several materials in the process, which makes this a fabulous Earth Day craft :) {Earth Day is April 22}

to make these colorful tiny candles, i used several materials that usually end up in a land fill: bottle caps, broken crayons, and empty soup cans. the only thing i bought to make them was the pre-waxed wicks which cost me $1.50 for a set of 12.

these make a great kid craft {with supervision, of course!} and would add a fun element to a wedding, romantic dinner, or even a fab conversation piece in your front room!

How to Make Bottle Cap Candles
supplies: bottle caps, crayons {or wax}, pre-waxed wicks, soup cans, wax paper {optional}, small cooking pan, scissors, and water

remove paper from crayons. you can also use candle wax if you wanted.

put crayons in clean, empty soup cans.

take your pre-waxed wicks and…

bottle caps

put wicks inside the bottle caps. i placed my bottle caps on wax paper in case i spilled some wax.

then using a small cooking pan filled with a couple inches of boiling water, place the can in the pan and melt the crayons. {you could also use a candle warmer to do this}the crayons melt pretty quickly. *note: it only takes a few crayons to fill a bottle cap!

pour the melted crayons or wax into the bottle caps.

let cool for 1-2 hours. then trim the wicks and you have some fun tea light candles to enjoy!

**added later: crayon wax does not smell that great when burned. if you plan to burn these candles, you may consider adding a scent to them**

happy crafting!

Linda
Hi! I'm Linda, the craft addict behind Craftaholics Anonymous®, a craft blog. Crafting is cheaper than therapy, right? When I'm not DIYing something, I can be found taxiing around our 4 crazy kids or working out. Or shoe shopping... because you can never have too many shoes! Happy crafting! ♥
Linda
Linda

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  2. 52
    Allison

    I found this post a month or so ago while looking online for how to make bottle cap candles. I’d seen some on Etsy.com that were sold out, and I wanted to try and make my own. This did not work for me. The crayon bits, small though they were, did not melt. After a LONG time of sitting in the can inside the boiling water on the stove top, (and by ‘long,’ I mean at least half an hour), they were nothing but a clumpy, globby mess. I stirred it with a wooden popsicle stick, and as soon as I took the stick out of the crayon mix, the wax solidified on the stick. I tried to pour the wax into the bottle cap, and it wouldn’t pour out–more coaxing with the popsicle stick, and it just got crumbly and gloppy. I hate I wasted my peppermint oil on this. I threw the whole mess away. One thing not mentioned was that we should take care that the can doesn’t tip into the water. My can was not heavy (I started with just a few crayon bits at a time), and it tipped to the side and may have taken on water. I poured out the water, but still…maybe I’ll try the beeswax I already have, but I thought the crayons would have looked so pretty with their colors. Please email me if you have tips on how to fix this or on what I did wrong!

    1. 52.1

      Hi Allison,
      I’m so sorry it didn’t work for you! I wonder if the crayons you used weren’t wax based, because crayons usually melt very easily. What brand did you use? The crayons I used were Crayola. Beeswax works well for this project. I was trying to repurpose some broken crayons, but beeswax smells better and you shouldn’t have any problems melting it. Again, I’m sorry it didn’t work for you!
      happy crafting,
      Linda

    2. 52.2
      Sherrye

      I have found that crayola crayons melt easily. There are some that do not melt well at all. I found this out doing the project with pumpkins and melting the crayons down the sides. Crayola brand should melt easily for you – Rose Art and some of the cheaper brand crayons do not melt well.

  3. 53
    Vicki H

    This is such a grand idea! I wonder why the colors of the candles were so vibrant! Crayons–brilliant. Shouldn’t take long for all of us to use them in other candle making!

  4. 54

    I made these today and they are lovely but they dont stay lit! Any ideas? I want to feature it on my blog.

    1. 54.1
      Anne M.

      I had the same problem. The wicks lit, then about 10 seconds later they all fizzled out. Maybe I cut them too short — I did 1/4″. Going to try again with longer wicks. Has anyone burned these successfully? To the person above who couldn’t get the crayons to melt, I used the microwave (in a microwave-safe container), in 1 minute or 30 second increments, and that worked.

  5. 55
    Charlott

    I like the activity but have some questions
    1. How long do they burn
    2. When adding a sent when do I add it
    3. When melting the wax how do I keep the can from toppling over because of the bubbles in the boling water
    4. I would like the paint them after I wash and dry them what is a safe paint to use around flames or should I not paint them.
    Thank you.

    1. 55.1
      Anna Haugerud

      Put 2 wooden skewers or popsicle sticks under the tin can to release the bubbles under the can!

      1. Thanks for the tip!

  6. 56

    Hi Linda!
    Just wanted to let you know, your tutorial is featured on my blog today. Thanks for the great step-by-step instructions!

    1. 56.1

      Thank you, Erin! I tried to leave a comment, but it wouldn’t let me for some reason. Your candles turned out great! I like the white paraffin wax you used.
      Happy crafting,
      Linda

  7. 57

    Oh wow they would make good birthday candles for a mans cake love them

  8. 58
    renee

    I think that it could be cheaper to make your own wicks. You could do this by cutting long thin strips from a !00% cotton t-shirt and then dipping that into melted wax, crayon or paraffin, etc. Then attach that to a flat thumb tack. I believe that be a long cheaper. :)

  9. 59
    Ariana Welsher

    THESE CANDLES ARE DECORTAION ONLY! THE CRAYON WAX GOES UP IN FLAME LIKE NOBODIES BUSINESS IT IS TERRIFYING TO WATCH

    1. 59.1
      ChrisL

      Thank you, was searching around for candle ideas and this comment made my day. Literally laughed until I had tears in my eyes. Super cute candles btw, I don’t know about fire hazard but crayon wax burns nasty

  10. 60
    JaydeMay

    these are so cool! making them for my best friend because she loves candles! adding some strawberry scent to them. The crayons melt so slow though! can’t wait for them to be done :)

  11. 61
    Irene

    Bottle cap candles very cool!

  12. 62
    bhavya

    Very very nice

  13. 63
    Patticake

    I made some for a special occasion, but used somewhat different materials. After pricing candle wicks, I realized I could buy tea lights cheaper at the dollar store. I bought colored, scented tealights, pulled the wicks, put them in the bottle caps, and melted the tealight wax to make the bottle cap candles – I used a candle warmer, thanks for that idea! I poured the extra wax from the tealights into a bigger candle in a jar, so it didn’t go to waste. The bottle cap candles got a lot of compliments. Thanks for the jumping off point so I could make my own. :)

    1. 63.1
      Kristina Graham

      my candles fizz out as soon as the wicks touches the waxs

  14. 64
    Debbie

    Hi I remelt regular. Candles when ur just about ready to throw out anyways ..just save them and if they R in jars just put jars in boiling water and they will melt down

  15. 65
    JKS

    Hi! I have a question!

    I have to make 200 of these. I have all of the caps, but they still have the plastic liner inside. It took me 10 minutes to remove three of them … I’ve decided NOT to remove the plastic liners to save time. Is it okay to not remove the liners?? I decided I would use pre-waxed wicks with the wick clip glued to the bottom of each cap. That way as the candle is burning the wick can’t fall over and touch the plastic liner. All of the tutorials I have read on how to make these bottle cap candles say you must remove the plastic liner inside the caps. Why? Can’t I save the time and just glue the wick in place to be sure the wick’s flame doesn’t light the plastic on fire and be done?

    I guess I’m wondering if there’s a reason for removing the plastic liners inside the caps??

    Thanks!

    1. 65.1

      I think the liner would melt or catch fire. I am not sure exactly what would happen. There are craft bottle caps you can purchase that would not have the liners in them. Like these: http://amzn.to/2tUbjgr They are like $6 for 100. Hope that helps!