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Candle making classes NYC
Photo Courtesy of Atelier Artisane

The best candle making classes in NYC

There's nothing like making your own candle, and these are the best places in NYC to learn

Written by
Camila Karalyte
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If you want to learn a new skill that’s accessible, practical, and fun, consider enrolling in one of these candle making classes. You’ll immerse yourself in the art of candle making as you learn to blend fragrances and pour wax to create personalized creations in a hands-on class. Under the guidance of experienced instructors, you’ll discover the secrets of crafting unique scents and designing beautiful candles. In addition, thanks to platforms like Etsy, you can sell your artisanal candles online and in-person at craft shows, flea markets, and swap meets. Then, once you’ve gotten candle making down, you can transfer those skills (and preferences) to other artisanal craft home goods.

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The best NYC candle making classes

Natural Scented Candle Making (Bryant Park) at Atelier Artisane

Making candles is a great way to make your home feel and smell nicer, and learning how to do it yourself can help you save money. You’ll be able to ensure that your candles smell perfect and don’t have any harmful chemicals in them (since you don’t want to be breathing in chemical fumes). This course will guide students through making candles from scratch, including how to source natural ingredients for both the candle and fragrance and ensure that your coconut wax candle is of the highest quality possible. Students will leave the class with a customized candle equipped with the knowledge to experiment with candle making techniques at their homes.

Candle Making Pop Up! Experience at Back Porch Soap Company

Learn how to make coconut wax candles and leave the course with two custom creations in this candle making experience. Join expert candle maker Marla Bosworth for an exciting candle making lesson in Manhattan. You’ll make all-natural, non-toxic scented candles that are perfect to burn at home or to give as personalized gifts. The lessons in this class will let you start making coconut wax candles at home since the process is easy and accessible. This eco-friendly course aims to provide students with a relaxing evening and a few new skills.

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Custom Scent & Candle Making Experience at Atelier Artisane

One of the most essential parts of a candle making project is getting the scent just right. In this course, you’ll spend most of your time perfecting the art of fragrant oil creation and get the opportunity to experiment with your own ideal fragrant oil combinations. By the end of this class, you’ll have made your custom scents and added those fragrances to candles you can bring home or give as artisanal gifts. You’ll leave with two custom candles and the knowledge to replicate these scents or make new ones at home.

Candle Making Class at Back Porch Soap Company

This candle making class will see participants learning the step-by-step process of making candles under the guidance of a master chandler with more than 25 years of candle making experience. You’ll learn everything from preparing the wax to adding coloration and scent as you build the perfect candle to give as a gift or to burn in your own home. The skills you learn in this course are easy to replicate at home and the course is a great way to learn how to make fine artisanal candles for personal or professional purposes.

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Candle Making Class for Two

Share an unforgettable date night with someone special in your life as you both make your own, personal scented candles in this candle making class for two. Pairs will work together to make a set of scented candles that can either complement one another or reflect each other's personal style and persona. The class is a fun, hands-on experience that will teach skills that you can replicate in your home, making it a great way to learn a fun and interesting new hobby to share with your partner. Make memories that will last for a long time (and candles that will last for a slightly shorter time) in this unique and fun date night experience.

Plant Based Wax Candle Making at Nyah (Newark, NJ)

Aspiring candle makers can unleash their creativity and master the art of crafting clean-burning candles with sustainable soy and coconut waxes at Nyah. Suitable for all levels of experience, this two-hour workshop on plant-based wax candle making offers a hands-on lesson in wick selection, fragrance blending, and wax pouring techniques, ensuring that participants leave with eco-friendly creations to illuminate their space.

Related DIY home goods classes

Organic Cold Process Soap Making at Back Porch Soap Company

You’ll experience the joy of soap making in this easy and accessible soap making class. Led by expert soapmaker Marla Bosworth, this one-hour workshop welcomes all skill levels and promises to  ensure a comfortable and enjoyable learning environment. You’ll have the chance to collaborate with classmates as you create personalized cold-process soap from scratch, selecting botanicals and additives to reflect your individual preferences. You’ll leave with a beautiful loaf of soap, yielding six bars, ready to be enjoyed or shared with others. This is an ideal opportunity to learn the art of soap making while crafting a luxurious creation to take home.

Organic Body Creams & Lotions Class at Back Porch Soap Company

This program guides you in formulating luxurious organic body creams and lotions. Led by Marla Bosworth, a seasoned expert in plant-based soap and beauty products, this two-and-a-half-hour workshop caters to all levels, from beginners to those seeking to refine their formulations. You’ll gain insight into selecting the finest ingredients, mastering emulsifiers, oils, butters, and preservatives, and how to customize products for personal use or gifting. You’ll leave with valuable handouts containing formulas, supplier lists, practical knowledge, and your creations of moisturizing body cream and hydrating body lotion. You’ll experience Marla's holistic approach to learning, fostering a positive, supportive, and educational atmosphere. This course promises to enhance your skincare knowledge and nurture your creativity in crafting personalized organic skincare products.

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Custom Face Cream Workshop at Bios Apothecary

You'll explore the art of crafting personalized face creams at Bios Apothecary's Custom Face Cream Workshop in Brooklyn. Suitable for all skill levels, this two-hour workshop covers various cream types, botanicals tailored to individual skin types, and the science behind blending water and oil phases. You'll sample over 100 natural ingredients and create a custom face cream with sleek matte black packaging. Raw materials provided include distilled flower waters, botanical carrier oils, essential oils, and emulsifiers, with the option to add cannabidiol (CBD) isolate for an extra fee. Enjoy light refreshments during the workshop, offering a hands-on skincare formulation experience.

Custom Face Serum Workshop at Bios Apothecary

Suitable for artisans of all experience levels, this two-hour workshop offers insights into different serum styles and formulas, helping students learn how to effectively incorporate them into their skincare routine and how to select the proper serums for their skin. You'll experience a sensory journey while sampling over 40 natural ingredients and light refreshments will be provided during the session. You'll leave having created a 30mL face serum in custom matte black packaging, choosing from oil-based, water-based, or microemulsion formats and you can replicate this process in your own home if you are interested in pursuing the process. Tailored to your own skin, this is an ideal course for anyone looking to improve their home beauty regimen.

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Custom Face Toner Workshop at Bios Apothecary

In this custom toner workshop, you'll unlock herbal skincare secrets and craft your own personalized face toner by selecting from over 40 natural ingredients. This immersive two-hour workshop welcomes beginners and experts alike, providing comprehensive instruction and hands-on training in formulating and creating custom skincare products. You’ll discover the benefits of herbal skincare, learn about different toner styles, and explore different botanicals that can be tailored to your skin type and goals. You'll leave the course having made a five-ounce face toner enriched with a selection of distilled flower waters, witch hazel, natural preservatives, essential oils, and high-performance actives. You can also add CBD isolate for an extra fee. Shape your own skin care routine or learn an artisan skill that will let you make personalized gifts or start selling your own line of skincare products.

DIY Perfume Bar Experience at Bios Apothecary

When you want to customize your candles even further, nothing is more unique than a one-of-a-kind fragrance. You’ll learn to make bespoke perfume to use in your candle creations in this exciting and accessible DIY perfumery course. Learn about the history of perfumery, the process of making perfume, and how to test and reproduce certain scents and fragrances. Bio Apothecary has a library of over 130 fragrances so that you can create a unique scent. You’ll leave the course with a custom blend and have all the training you need to start making additional perfumes.

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Natural Perfume Workshop

Choose from a wide range of botanical scents, including therapeutic-grade essential oils, rare woods, exotic flowers, and invigorating spices, that you can incorporate into your candle and perfume making. In this unique sensory experience at Bios Apothecary's perfume-making workshop, you’ll learn how scents combine and how perfume has been made throughout history. This class provides you with the knowledge and tools to craft your bespoke fragrance, drawing on Bios’s library of over 130 all-natural, organic scents. An expert perfume maker will guide you through attuning your creation to your desires, letting you create a fragrant, bespoke perfume ready to be worn when you get home.

Intro to Perfumery: A Primer at Fragrance Alliance Network

At Fragrance Alliance Network's Intro to Perfumery: A Primer, you'll learn the intricate science of our sense of smell and fragrance perception. Designed for beginners, this two-hour workshop provides a comprehensive overview of the anatomy of the olfactory system and the role of scent receptors in detecting and interpreting fragrances. You'll explore the essence of natural raw materials and aroma chemicals in perfumery, including plant origins, extraction processes, and the use of synthetic raw materials. You'll also gain insights into the spectrum of material families and classifications in perfumery while delving into the nuances of scent differences based on genus, species, and geolocation.

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Sip and Soap at Nyah

Join the instructors at Nyah for a cold press sip and soap making event. You’ll meet new people, have some beer or wine, and make handcrafted bars of soap to bring home and use during your next shower. This class provides students with the necessary supplies to make their own natural, non-toxic, artisanal soap. It's a fun and relaxing way to spend an evening, and you may discover that making soap is something you’d like to pursue further.

Candle Making Class Gift Card

Give the gift of a fragrant journey through the bustling streets of NYC's creative hub with some enticing candles, soap, and perfume-making class gift cards. Whether you're a seasoned crafter or a novice looking to explore the world of fragrance, classes offer an aromatic adventure for everyone. Treat yourself or surprise a friend with the gift of crafting luxurious candles, artisanal soaps, and bespoke perfumes. From beginner-friendly classes where you'll learn the basics of candle pouring and soap molding to specialty workshops featuring advanced techniques and exotic scents, there's a class to suit every level of expertise. Spice up your date nights with romantic candle making sessions or bond with friends over a fun-filled perfume-blending workshop. With gift cards, you'll unleash your inner alchemist and create signature scents that captivate the senses.

Group activities and team building events

Premium Candle Making Workshop

Give your employees the rare opportunity to work with a master chandler and create their own custom-scented candles in this premium candle making workshop. In this class, participants will be given all the supplies they need to make two unique scented candles they can take home with them to burn in their homes or give as gifts. All the while, they’ll learn about the history of candle making and have the chance to collaborate with their coworkers as they discover what unique kinds of candles everyone in the session makes.

Soap Making at Your Office

Bringing fragrances into your home has been shown to enhance mood, reduce stress, and even improve sleep. While candles are a classic way to make your space smell great, you can enjoy your favorite scent whenever you wash your hands. Bring your team together for a fun evening of hands-on crafting as everyone makes their artisanal bar of soap. You’ll have the chance to select the coloring, scent, and botanicals you include in your bar of soap, and then your expert instructor will guide participants through turning the disparate ingredients into a complete and useful bar of soap that they can take home with them. Whether or not your employees continue with their new soap-making skills, this course will surely be a hit amongst your team members.

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Candle Painting Group Event

Your employees will unwind in artistic bliss at this event, where plain candles are transformed into bespoke masterpieces infused with vibrant colors and personal vibes. Led by a live professional host, this instantly bookable experience in Bushwick offers a laid-back evening of creative fun. Everyone will receive three tapestry candles to paint during the two-hour session and enjoy free time for creative expression while chatting and sipping. They’ll take home their unique candles and cherish the memories of this chill candle painting hangout.

Perfume Blending At Your Office

In this workshop, your employees will use a variety of cruelty-free materials to blend their own custom perfume. The instructor will bring all the necessary supplies to your office and present a brief introduction on the process of blending common ingredients and fragrances. Students will use this information to select the supplies they want to use for their perfume. After the event wraps up, each participant will leave with a hand-crafted and one-of-a-kind perfume blend that they can use whenever they’d like.

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Why Enroll in a Candle Making Class?

Learning to make artisanal, bespoke candles may seem like something other than an immediately practical skill, but the sense of accomplishment and empowerment from mastering a new craft is invaluable. Spending a few hours over the weekend learning the basics can have useful applications. For instance, as more people embrace a health-conscious lifestyle, particularly one that prioritizes organic ingredients, you can ensure that the fragrance you breathe from your candles is only from natural sources. Moreover, you can tailor the fragrance to your preferences, creating a restful space, masking odors, or enhancing your mood or sleep. 

This can extend to other personal products like soaps and perfumes. Learning to make your own home goods will ensure that you know what is going into them and that they aren’t full of harmful chemicals or cheap fillers. You can make hand-crafted luxuries to ensure all your goods are perfectly attuned to your unique skin. Plus, you'll save money and enjoy making high-quality products in the long run. If you dive deeper into the world of artisanal candles and other home goods, you can also turn it into a relatively profitable side business. Handmade candles, soaps, and perfumes are popular gifts, and there's a market for organic home goods. You can sell your products online or attend local swap meets, flea markets, and craft fairs.

Choosing the Right Candle Making Class for You

If you enroll in a course to make candles, soap, or perfume, you must first decide what specific artisanal skill you want to know. While it may seem obvious, making perfume isn’t always transferable to learning how to make soap, except for the knowledge of fragrances. You can’t pick a course about making scented home goods and assume that all the skills you learn will be helpful if you follow a different path later.

You’ll also want to consider whether you're attending the class as a one-time experience or learning how to create artisanal goods in your home. If you spend an evening making candles to give as a gift, you don’t need to consider the long-term cost. To pursue it as a hobby (or a side business), consider the start-up costs of building a home workstation. When you select a course, think about whether it focuses on providing introductory instruction, like Candle Making Pop Up! Experience or in-depth study of a subject, like the Natural Perfume Workshop.

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