Enamel Cup Anti Mosquito Candle

We live in an area where mosquitos are really annoying. Since we love to spend our free time in our backyard and prefer not to use any store bought chemical repellents, I decided to make something more natural! After some research, I realised citronella and lavander essential oil combination works great so I used these to make anti mosquito candle. Using my old enamel cup to hold the candle made it pretty but also easy to carry around! We even take it with us when camping and on picniks! This project is great because you can use your leftover candles and thrifted enamel cups, so it's really cheap and it works great!

candle wax or old candles, enamel cup, pre-made wick, citronella essential oil, lavander essential oil, two wooden skewer sticks or chopsticks, wooden skewer or spatula for mixing, 2 rubber bands, old sauce pan you don't need anymore or a used coffee tin and your usual sauce pan, knife, cutting board, scissors.

Cut your old candles or candle wax into smaller pieces and melt them in an old sauce pan on low heat. The pan will be really hard or impossible to clean afterwards so if you don't have one to spare only for this purpose, I suggest using your regular pan and used coffee tin to improvise a double boiler! Just submerge the tin with wax into a sauce pan with boiling water and let the wax melt!

While the wax is melting, place the wick inside your enamel cup and secure it between two wooden skewers or chopsticks connected together at the ends with rubber bands!

When wax is melted, take it off heat and let it cool a bit until it starts to get semi-opaque before adding essential oils. I used 50 drops of citronella essential oil and 30 of lavander essential oil. Stir the wax with wooden stick or spatula.

Carefully pour the wax and let it cool in room temeprature for 4-6 hours or overnight, depending on the size of your enamel cup! If you put it in your refrigerator or outside if it's cold, it will not harden evenly and it can crack, so try to avoid this!

Last thing to do is cut your wick if needed and you are done! No more pesky mosquitos!