Do you remember Apple Jacks cereal and Saturday morning cartoons? As a kid, this sugary cereal was always stocked in my kitchen cabinet at home. The smell of cinnamon alone brings me down memory lane.
Since March marks National Craft Month and includes a National Cereal Day as well, I thought it would be fitting to celebrate by making a candle inspired by this nostalgic breakfast food. I’m going to show you how to make your own silicone rubber mold to create cereal pieces along with how to assemble and create your own scented candle. Let’s get into it!
You can watch the full tutorial here or read the step-by-step guide below.
Part I: Mold Making Process
Silicone Mold Materials:
- NicPro Silicone Mold Kit or any two part silicone rubber mold making kit
- A housing kit or a roll of cake sheet acetate
- A plastic placemat or other non-porous mat
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Circular pieces of cereal
- Disposable measuring cups and mixing stick
- Kitchen scale
Step 1: Assemble a Mold Housing
I purchased this NicPro Silicone Mold Kit on Amazon and I highly recommend it as it’s easy to use and comes with an adjustable housing kit. The housing kit allows you to create any sized mold that you may need and you can secure the housing with the provided binder clips.
If you’re using a roll of acetate to create your housing, you can cut out a sheet long enough to create an enclosed circle that will fit your cereal pieces. You’ll want to attach the ends of your acetate using your hot glue gun.
Once your housing is assembled, you’ll want to seal any cracks or openings to your plastic placemat or surface of your choice. Use your hot glue gun to seal both the inside and the outside of your housing. Note, that you’ll want to choose a surface that you don’t mind getting messy as it may leave residue.
Step 2: Layout Your Cereal of Choice
After you’ve sealed and secured your housing, you’re going to want to take your cereal pieces and begin gluing them to your placemat inside of your housing. You don’t want to use too much hot glue on your cereal piece, but you want to make sure it’s secure. Be careful not to enclose the inner hole of your cereal piece because it will be difficult to remove once the mold has dried. Press to ensure that your pieces are secure. Your layout should look like the below.
Step 3: Mixing Silicone Rubber
For the next part you’re going to need a disposable cup to measure with, a mixing stick, and some paper towels. Tare your scale using your measuring up and be sure your units are set to fluid ounces. Depending on the amount of cereal pieces you’re looking to make the amount of silicone rubber you’ll need may vary. If you’re following along with the amount I have, you’ll want to create a total of 5 fl. oz. of silicone rubber liquid.
First you’re going to pour 2.5 fl. oz. of part A and then you’ll add 2.5 fl. oz. of part B.
Quick note – Be sure to avoid cross contaminating the liquid tops, as it could ruin your remaining liquid for future projects.
Now you’re going to slowly mix your measured out liquid for however long your kit instructions recommend. This typically ranges between 3 to 5 minutes or until the two fluids are completely combined. A key indicator your solution is mixed properly is that it turns a solid green color. However, if you’re using a clear liquid, you may still be able to tell the difference as one is less viscous and you will not see any streaks.
After mixing you’ll likely have air bubbles, so you’ll want to let your mixture sit for about a minute before pouring or once the bubbles are reduced. Once air bubbles have gone away, you can start pouring at a very low height above your cereal to reduce causing additional air bubbles. Slowly pour around the cereal and cover completely. Your silicone rubber should cover about ¼ inch above your cereal pieces.
Once covered, follow your silicone mold instructions for set time. This will typically range from 6-10 hours.
Step 4: Demolding Process
After your silicone mold has set, you’ll be able to remove your housing and cereal pieces from your mold. The mold will have a lot of give, so don’t be afraid to bend, if needed. Pushing from the back of the mold is the trick. Clean out any cereal crumbs and pieces should they break.
Note, if a thin layer has formed over your cereal pieces, you can use a box cutter or sharp knife to make a clean cut to remove your cereal.
You’ll now have a complete mold.
Part II: Candle Making Process
Candle Making Materials:
- Glass bowl
- Metal spoon
- A large pot for boiling water
- Cereal mold from Part I of this tutorial
- (2) straws or long sticks (pens, spoons, chopsticks, etc.)
- Disposable measuring cups and mixing sticks
- Kitchen scale
- Heat gun or blow dryer
- Hearth & Harbor Candle Making Kit (full kit) or
- Soy wax
- Cotton candle wicks
- Dye blocks or liquid dye
- Candle fragrance oil
- Metal melting pot
- Candy thermometer
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks or glue dots for wicks
- Popsicle sticks
If you’re just starting out with candle making, I recommend investing in this very useful candle making kit by Hearth & Harbor. It includes everything you’ll need to make this candle including additional materials to make many more candles and scents. It was gifted to me and I still use it to this day!
Step 1: Determining Container Weight
You’ll want to determine how much wax your glass bowl or container will hold. In order to do that, first, tare the bowl on your scale. Fill your bowl or container with water as high as you’d like your candle wax to sit within your bowl, then measure this in ounces. For my candle, I filled it slightly more than half. Note the weight in ounces, as we’ll need this for step 3.
Step 2: Prepping the Cereal Bowl
Turn on your hot glue gun, so it can heat up while you prep your bowl. Skip this if you’re using wick glue dots.
Depending on the size of the wick you have and the diameter that one of your single wicks can cover, you may need multiple Be sure to check your wick packaging or instructions. The bowl I used in this tutorial is 6 inches wide and my wicks work for containers up to 2.65 inches, so I used two.
You’ll want to lightly hot glue your wick to the bottom of the bowl or use your glue dots to adhere them. If you’re using a single wick, you can place it in the center and move your spoon to either the left or right side of your bowl. If you’re using two wicks, as shown below, you’ll want to place your wicks on both sides leaving space away from your spoon. You do not want to secure your wick directly onto the spoon. You can choose to add a small amount of hot glue to attach it to your bowl, however, the weight of the spoon should hold it in place.
Once your wicks are attached, you can use your wick centering sticks that came with your kit or your popsicle stick with a pre-carved hole to hold your wicks up. You’ll want to position them between two straws or pens to prop them up. See below.
Step 3: Measuring Out Candle Wax
To figure out how much wax you’ll need, I recommend using my candle wax and fragrance load calculator. You’ll want to use the weight in ounces you noted in step 1 to fill out the water weight field in the calculator.
I enjoy a well scented candle, so I often go for a 10% fragrance load. If you want a softer scent you can go for a 6-8% fragrance load. Once your wax and fragrance has been calculated, you can begin weighing them out. Be sure you’re in a well ventilated space.
When measuring out your wax, hold about 2 oz. to the side. To replicate my cereal bowl candle with both green and orange cereal pieces, you’ll need to take your 2 oz. and divide that into two separate melting pots. These will be your individual colors.
Step 4: Making Your Cereal Pieces
At this point, you can begin to bring a bit more than 1-quart of water to a boil.
You can now start chopping your dye block to add to your wax. You can chop about a quarter-sized amount of each color. The more dye, the more vibrant your cereal pieces will turn out. I used a bright green and orange dye block for my pieces.
Once your water is done boiling, you can place the 1 oz. of wax into your melting pot and place your melting pot into your boiling pot of water. Again, since it is such a small amount of wax, it will melt quickly. As soon as it has melted, you can add in one of your dye colors. Mix the dye until it is well incorporated and once finished you can remove it from the stove.
You’ll want to wait a few minutes until the wax comes down to a pourable temperature. Pouring at too high of a temperature will ruin your mold. A safe temperature is around 135ºF/57ºC.
Slowly and carefully begin pouring your cooled colored wax into your silicone mold. Try not to overflow each piece, as it will make it difficult to remove from the mold. This amount should fill about half of your mold.
Repeat this process for your other colored wax until your silicone mold is completely filled and set aside.
Step 5: Making the Scented Milk
Now it’s time to melt down the remainder of wax for your scented milk. In your clean melting pot, add your remaining wax and add to your boiling water. For soy wax, the ideal melting temperature is around 185ºF/85ºC. Keep an eye on your thermometer and mix every so often to avoid clumping.
When at the ideal temperature, remove your melting pot from the boiler and add in your measured fragrance. Continuously mix at a slow pace to fully combine the fragrance oil with your wax. You’ll want to mix until your wax temperature drops to 135ºF/57ºC. Around 145ºF/63ºC, you can use your heat gun or blow dryer to slightly warm up your container. This will help to reduce any pulling away of wax from your container.
Once at pouring temperature, slowly pour your scented milk wax into your bowl in a single spot. Avoid too much movement and a pouring stream that is too high above the bowl. This will lower any chances of air bubbles or uneven setting.
Step 6: Adding Cereal Pieces
Your cereal pieces should be set in your mold by now. If not, you can pop them into your fridge to quicken up the process. However, you don’t want to do this with the milk portion.
Just as you did during the demolding process, you’ll want to remove your wax cereal pieces from your mold and set them aside.
During this time, you’ll begin to see your milk wax take shape. It will go from transparent to a solid white. When the milk is just about set (somewhere between) you can start adding in your wax cereal pieces. Using tweezers or needle nose pliers to position your wax cereal in your bowl can be helpful.
If by chance your milk wax has completely solidified, you can heat up the top layer with a heat gun or blow dryer until you can see it glisten. Then proceed to add your wax cereal pieces.
After adding all of your cereal, set aside in an environment that is not too hot or too cold and preferably where the air is still. Let the candle completely set for at least 1 hour. Although you might be tempted, try to avoid moving the candle as this can cause rippling and uneven setting.
Step 7: Trim Wick(s)
When your candle has hardened, you can remove your wick holders and trim down your wicks. You’ll want to leave about ¼ of an inch of your wick to burn properly.
Step 8: Cure and Enjoy
Although your candle has hardened, your candle will still need to cure for the scent to fully infuse into the candle. There’s nothing worse than lighting a candle to find that it smells like nothing. To cure, you’ll want to wrap your candle in plastic wrap and let sit for a few days. For soy wax, the curing process can take up to seven days. It will be well worth the wait.
After it’s cure time, you’re free to light your candle and enjoy the scent!
Watch Full Video Tutorial
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. I’d love to know how your cereal bowl candle turned out. Feel free to share your experience and pictures with me on social @LinaMakes or email at lina@linamakes.com.
