Candle Whimsy: 23 Bold, Bendy Projects That Break the Mold

A beginner’s guide to making candles of all types, featuring bold curves and unusual shapes.


Learn the basics of candle making, then use your skills to color outside the proverbial lines. This clear, colorful guide focuses on ways to add eye-catching visual movement to candles.


Author Anna Dykhoff, who also designs interiors and film sets, explains how her set-planning needs led to her passion for wax: The opportunities for creative variation are endless! 


First, learn in-depth candle-making basics. Next, master 5 techniques: dipping, casting, building, shaping, and dyeing. The 23 projects encourage you to shape your candles in unexpected ways. Twisted, spiraled, angling in striking directions? It’s all up to you. This handbook is perfect for crafters who love bending the rules to express their own style.


• The 23 projects allow candles to shine with curves, twists, sculpture, and other ways to level up and personalize this craft. Projects include a candle crown; candles that are twisted balls, multiple branch, spiraling, color-marbleized, and more; even wax vases and handmade birthday candles. Some take less than 10 minutes to complete; others are more advanced.


• A fresh design aesthetic for today’s makers. The author’s innovative, whimsical designs transform this craft into an ultra-contemporary, expressive new favorite.


• Focuses on natural, sustainable materials. Anna explains ways to source your wax and wicks wisely, and their environmental impact inside and outside the home. The projects use beeswax or stearin wax (a vegan option), plus cotton wicks.


• Repurposes everyday materials that readers probably have lying around the home, such as glass jars, toilet paper rolls, and crayon wax.


• Teaches dyeing and coloring methods using either purchased wax pigments or crayons: dyeing wax, dip painting in a water bath, and marbleizing.