These seashell candles are everything I like out of a DIY – they’re easier to make than they look, smell amazing, bring a little charm from your personal travels into the home, and give these trinkets purpose.
A few weeks ago on the beach, I found these giant clams. A huge storm had just flooded the shores, so there were seashells baked into the sand and just beginning to shift below the surface all the way up to the dune grass. The further away from the water I walked, the more undamaged seashells I found. These giant clams are so beautiful, with subtle opalescent purple, pink, blue, and white. I love the way these seashell candles are both functional and decorative. Lately I’ve been burning aromatherapy oils in the house, so I added lavender and peppermint oil to the candle wax. When they burn, the room smells so relaxing, calming, and fresh. This seashell candle diy was inspired by one I found on She Knows.
Seashell Candle Materials:
Candle Wax Flakes
Candle Wicks
Peppermint Essential Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Found Clam Shells
Seashell Candle Directions:
For the candle wicks, you can either buy them in bulk and make them yourself, or just pop out the wicks from tea light candles. It turns out tea light candles have the perfectly shaped wicks for seashell candles. I used tea light wicks.
As a general rule of thumb, one candle is made with about twice as many wax flakes as the volume of the seashell. Measure your wax flakes into a glass container or wide mason jar. I used a glass measuring cup. Keep in mind that you will have to clean the leftover wax out of the container. I didn’t have a problem immediately cleaning the wax out with a sponge and hot water, but if you let the wax solidify it may be more challenging. I stored my leftover wax in a mason jar for use in later projects. If you plan on doing this, it may be more efficient to just use the mason jar to melt the wax and save yourself the dish cleaning time. The benefit of using the measuring cup is that it has a handle and spout for easy pouring.
The wax will be melted in a similar fashion to a double boiler. Fill a pan about half way with water and place the wax-filled glass container in the middle. Turn the burner on medium, and let the wax melt, stirring every few minutes. Place your seashells on a sheet of baking paper and position the candle wicks in the middle of the seashells. I found that deeper seashells work best. At a closer look, the deepest seashells are not necessarily the largest seashells.
Once the candle wax has melted, it’s time to add the essential oils. I added about 2 drops of each oil per seashell, but I love the smell of peppermint and lavender. For less fragrant candles, use less oils. Then, carefully take the glass container and gently pour the wax into the seashells. It helped for me to prop some of the seashells up to stabilize them while I poured the wax. Don’t mess with or touch the candles until the wax is hardened.
Aaaand that’s it! Light the candles, and enjoy. This is a very simple DIY that anyone can do to have these beautiful, fragrant seashell candles.