Repurpose mismatched thrift store tea cups into beautiful DIY candles. They make a lovely handmade gift.
Did you know it’s actually very easy to make your own candles at home? Before I had tried it, I assumed it would be complicated. But it’s not! I made these candles in about 30 minutes (plus dry time) and the hardest part was waiting impatiently for the wax to cool and harden.
To make tea cup candles, you will need:
Materials Needed
- Tea Cups (I see cute ones at thrift stores all the time)
- Candle Wax
- Candle Wicks
- Scent (optional)
- Old Crayola Crayons (if you want to color the wax) or Candle Dye
You can buy the supplies you’ll need at any craft store or on Amazon. They usually have a section where all of the candle making supplies will be next to each other. I bought my wax at Hobby Lobby for $5 after coupon and I used about half of the bag for these three teacup candles.
Instructions
I’ve included step-by-step written instructions to make these teacup candles, but if you’d rather watch a video of the process, scroll to the bottom of this post!
Step 1: Use a bit of hot glue to secure the metal circle on the wick to the bottom center of the tea cup. Wrap the top of the wick around a pencil to keep it centered.
Step 2: Melt wax in a cooking pan over medium heat, until the wax is no longer opaque. The bag of wax will have specific instructions depending on the type of wax.
Step 3: An easy and inexpensive way to color wax is to add an old chunk of colored crayon when melting. If you have kids at home, chances are you probably have some stubby old crayons around somewhere. You can also buy wax dyes, but why not use whatcha got?!
Step 4: Remove wax from heat, then add scent, if desired. This is also available in the candle-making section at the craft store.
Step 5: Let the wax cool just a bit, then carefully pour it into each tea cup. You want to let the wax cool a little so that it doesn’t “undo” the hot glue that’s holding your wick in place. I used a funnel to pour the wax in so that I didn’t splash it all over and make a mess.
Step 6: Let the wax harden completely, then trim the wick.
Aren’t they so pretty? I think these unique candles would make such a wonderful and inexpensive gift for friends and neighbors. They’d be a perfect handmade housewarming gift or just a cheerful “thinking of you” gift for a friend.
Tea Cup Candle Video
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Comments & Reviews
Your website made my day! It is so bright and cheery! Love it!
Thank you so much Charlotte! Your comment made MY day! 🙂
I am so excited to make the tea cup candles. We dont have a Hobby Lobby so I would have to order the supplies. Where can I oder them?
I have been very happy with Consumer Crafts. Here’s an affiliate link to all of the candlemaking supplies: http://shrsl.com/15one
Thank you for sharing! I have so many teacups and I have made lamps and night lights with them but next step is this.. Have a blessed day 😊
I live in Canada and I DREAM about Hobby Lobby! We have a honey producer nearby which sells beeswax so am going to try using that for wax. Can’t wait to make for Christmas gifts!
They would be perfect Christmas gifts. I hope you get a Hobby Lobby some day! It’s my favorite store!
Hi Jennifer, I love your newsletter. Thank you.
My daughter and I have been candle making for some time now. On these cute teacup candles, did you glue the cup to the saucer?
Hi Debbie, thank you so much! I chose not to glue the saucer to the tea cup, because I wanted the cup to be reusable after burning the candle. But you certainly could glue it together!
I am a candle maker…just wanted to let you know crayons can clog the wick. Do some research on this. You need to use candle dye. For scent, it should not be essential oil, but candle fragrance oil. thanks!
Does the teacup get glued to the saucer? If so, when?
No, I didn’t glue them together. I wanted the gift recipient to still have the option to use the cup to drink from after the candle was used up.
I have been wanting to start making candles as a hobby and to give away as gifts. I’ve watched several videos on how to make candles, but none of them tell you how much scent to add to liquid wax and not even how much wax to melt first. Are you able/willing to provide more in-depth information? Thanking you in advance for any help you can provide.
Thank you very much. I love this idea and have many old cups I can use.
i was able ot make some awesome christmas gifts with this guide and wanted to say thank you 🙂
Wow! Thank you for keeping it simple! I knew it didn’t need to be all fancy, just something to give simple lighting and a pretty tea cup. Let me know how everything turns out! With a bow and cute little card it will be a great way of saying “I love you!”