Candle making classes NYC
Photo Courtesy of Atelier Artisane
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

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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

Candle Making Sip and Pour

As with most kinds of art, candle making can be a fun activity to learn about while having a few drinks and taking the evening easy. In this sip and pour class, you will learn the basics of making nontoxic scented candles while having the chance to enjoy your favorite beer or wine. This low-stakes candle making event is a good way to meet new people, spend time with friends or just enjoy an evening learning a new skill while also taking it easy and savoring a bit of your favorite adult beverage.

Candle Making Masterclass

In this masterclass, you’ll have the opportunity to spend an afternoon in an immersive workshop learning all of the foundational techniques and skills that go into professional-level candle making. This program will teach you how to create handmade, bespoke non-toxic candles and will help you understand the science of creating and mixing aroma and scents into your candles. By the end of this course, you will have an understanding of all of the tools and techniques you need to start making your own artisanal candles at home, which you can customize to be perfect for your own home or as gifts for the candle lovers in your life.

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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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Professional Cold Process Soap Making

Bespoke, artisanal soaps are a very popular gift and are highly sought after by anyone looking to find the perfect blend of organic ingredients to add to their skincare routine. In this course, you can learn how professionals make the artisanal soaps that they sell and how they select and source their organic ingredients. This program is perfect for anyone looking to turn their hobby into a way to make an income on the side and it is also great for anyone looking to figure out how to make the perfect gift for someone close to them (or for themselves, since everyone’s skin deserves special treatment).

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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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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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

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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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