After a long stressful day, do you ever soak in the bathtub surrounded by candles? Just the thought of flickering candlelight is relaxing. Because of that quality, candles always make a welcome gift.

Historically, candles were valued because of their functionality, as well as their role in many religions, traditions and rituals. Today they have come to symbolize emotional warmth and light. Candles signify a special occasion like a wedding or romantic dinner. Candles can create a mood and atmosphere of calm and contribute to the overall design of living spaces. They light up a summer night and evoke an ancient feeling of living outdoors.

Candle making is a fun and trendy craft, as well as a favorite family project. Handmade candles have more personality than anything you could ever buy in a store. There are many different ways to make wonderful candles to give as gifts during the upcoming holidays.

ARTBEAT The Creativity Store in Arlington offers dozens of ideas for making gift candles. Here are 7 easy ways to make beautiful candles that require no heating, cooking, or special equipment.

Use 100% natural beeswax sheets (in more than 20 colors) for the following candles. Beeswax has a natural honey scent, burns clean, and is naturally drip-free and smokeless, making it better to use in homes with babies, the elderly or those with allergies. See below for basic candle rolling instructions.

Dinner Tapers
Cut one 8” x 16” sheet of beeswax in half to make 2 8” squares. After rolling, make a sleeve out of handmade paper and tie it around the candles with ribbon or raffia. For a sparkling touch, brush candle lightly with superfine glitter.

Votive Candles (sushi, anyone?)
Cut one 8” x 16” sheet of beeswax lengthwise into 4 equal strips. Roll each strip to make one candle, or use 2 strips for a wider candle. To make sushi candles, first roll the wick into a small piece of orange wax (salmon) or brown wax (tuna), and then make a small roll of light green (avocado). Compress these 2 rolls together as the center, and roll a long strip of white wax (rice) or natural wax (brown rice) to the desired size. Finish with a wrap of black wax for nori.

Decorated Pillar
Cut two 8” x 16” sheet of beeswax in half lengthwise. Roll one strip, and then add the others, one at a time. The finished candle will be wide enough so that it will burn down in the middle, and the decorated outside will be preserved. Cut designs from colored beeswax using mini cookie cutters, clay punches, or old scissors. Place the cutouts onto the outside of the candle and press them in place.

Stacked Candle
This is a great way to make a shaped candle, such as a star or heart. Use a large cookie cutter to cut a repeated shape out of sheets of beeswax. Use a toothpick to poke a small hole in the exact center of each shape. Stack the sheets on top of each other to the height you desire. Thread the wick through the stack, one piece at a time, and then press the stack together lightly.

Appliqué Candle
This candle uses German decorating beeswax instead of honeycomb, for designs that can be pressed onto a solid beeswax, soy, or paraffin candle, and will melt with it. Cut designs from the decorating wax using mini cookie cutters, clay punches, or old scissors. Press the cutouts onto the surface of the candle. Create “painted” designs by warming the decorating wax in your hands and using your fingers to spread it on the candle. Children can apply WikkiStix™ to a candle 3” wide or more.

Embellished Candle
This project is best done on a solid candle at least 3” wide, so that it burns down in the middle. Cut shapes out of double-sided Bead Tape, peel one side and apply them to the outside of a candle. Peel off the other side and apply rhinestones, beads and glitter to the tape

Painted Candle
Use wax-based paints and candle markers to create designs on solid beeswax, soy, or paraffin candles.

What about making candles the old-fashioned way? With a double boiler and the proper supplies you can make dipped, poured or molded candles. New blended waxes, made of beeswax, soy, and paraffin, make this process easier than ever, eliminating the need for hard-to-find additives. Because melting wax requires high heat and is flammable, this process should be done only by adults or by children under adult supervision.

Here are some quick tips for traditional candle making:

Use different scents throughout the seasons to evoke special memories. For example it is nice to use vanilla, maple, and sweet food scents in winter; and pumpkin and other “spice” scents in the fall. In the spring one can experience flower scents. In summer citrus and fruity scents are nice, while the feeling evoked by burning a mint or sage candle is uplifting and cooling.

Dipped Candles
The ancient technique of repeatedly dipping a weighted wick in melted wax is so fun and relaxing, some say is like a Zen experience. New taper wax helps wax adhere to the wick when first dipping, and aids the process of layering.

Molded Candles
Use a premium wax blend, or a beeswax/paraffin mix to get a higher quality candle without the expense. There are one-piece and 2-piece acrylic molds. When the wax cools it shrinks and you can get it out of the mold. Many recycled materials such as Pringles and frozen juice containers, coffee cups make good peel-off molds.

Poured Candles
Special glass-fill wax for filling glass containers melts at a lower temperature and is formulated not to shrink when cooled. The thick, tempered glass of old fashioned jelly glasses are perfect vessels for scented candles.

Basic Beeswax Rolling Method
Cut wax to the size and shape you need. One sheet of beeswax will make 2 dinner tapers, 8 menorah candles, 2-4 votives, or one small pillar, depending on how you cut it. Work in a warm room and avoid cold surfaces like marble and metal.

Cut wick about 1/2” longer than the wax and press it in along one edge of a sheet. Pinch the wax into a tight roll around the length of the wick. Working on a flat surface, begin rolling up the wax sheet. Use firm, steady pressure without squeezing. When you get to the end of a sheet, press in along the edge to make it stay in place. When rolling multiple sheets, place the edges together, not overlapping, and continue rolling.