Step by Step Guides

How to Make Ice Candles

An ice candle is a pillar poured over chunks of ice. The hot wax sets around the ice, the ice melts and drains away, and what is left is a lacy honeycomb of cavities that no two candles ever share. Creating this dramatic design relies entirely on one key secret: a hard, high-melt paraffin wax poured hot enough to cascade smoothly through the ice.

Three lit pillar candles with mottled red and gray pitted surfaces on a wood table, warm bokeh behind

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Lone Star Candle Supply

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Read time

9 min read

An ice candle is a pillar poured over chunks of ice. The hot wax sets around the ice, the ice melts and drains away, and what is left is a lacy honeycomb of cavities that no two candles ever share. Use the same color and fragrance twice and you still get two different candles, because the ice packs differently every time. The intricate patterns develop as a result of two things: the size of the chunks of ice used and the hot wax setting almost instantly as it comes in contact with them.

What You'll Need

What You'll Need

Check items off as you gather them

Supplies

Tools & Equipment

  • Crushed Ice chunks around three-quarters of an inch
  • Mold Putty to seal the wick hole in the mold base
  • Wick Bar a Wick Bar holds the wick centered at the top
  • Cookie Sheet or Pan under the mold to catch a leak and to catch draining water
  • Utility Knife to score the wax slab for snapping
  • Wick Trimmers or scissors to trim the finished wick
  • Pouring Pot, Thermometer, Scale the prep trio from How to Prepare Wax for Pouring

Skip ahead to the step-by-step guide

Why Paraffin, Not Soy

Ice candles require a precise paraffin technique, meaning your wax choice is not interchangeable. You must pour the wax hot, between 175°F and 185°F, directly into a mold packed with ice. A hard pillar paraffin has a high melting point; though it solidifies soon after touching the ice, it holds its structural shape perfectly to carve out those crisp, lacy walls. In contrast, a soft, low-melt blend like soy wax chills instantly upon contact, seizing into a cloudy, mushy mess that completely loses the honeycomb design. Many soy pillar blends are also more brittle, which can leave the finished honeycomb prone to cracking.

Reach for a pillar blend such as IGI 4625. If you are deciding between paraffin grades, paraffin wax guide walks through how melt point and hardness read on the product page, and the broader candle wax shows where pillar paraffin sits next to the container waxes. The technique itself is the standard pillar process from How to Make Pillar Candles, with crushed ice standing in for a smooth pour.

The Step-by-Step Process

Cover the workspace with butcher paper or newspaper first; drips are part of the job, and they peel off paper far easier than they scrape off a counter.

How to Make Ice Candles

  1. 1

    Weigh and cut the wax

    Pillar slabs are hard. Score the slab with a utility knife, rest the score over a table edge, and press to snap it into pot-sized pieces. Check the mold's product page for its standard wax capacity and weigh your wax to match. Keep in mind that you will not actually need that entire amount; because the ice occupies so much room inside the mold, expect to have some wax left over.

    Hand scoring a white wax slab with a small gray hand tool on a white surface
  2. 2

    Snap the slab down to size

    Keep breaking the scored wax until the pieces fit your pouring pot. Mind your fingers on the snap, and weigh the wax right in the pot so you skip a transfer.

    Hand pressing a gray tool into a scored white wax slab to snap it on a white surface
  3. 3

    Melt in a double boiler

    Set the pouring pot in an inch of simmering water with a trivet underneath so no side takes direct heat. Hold medium-low and bring the wax to 175°F to 185°F depending on your blend. Keep a thermometer in the wax and never leave it unattended[1].

    Aluminum pouring pot nested in a saucepan on a black GE two-burner hot plate
  4. 4

    Wick and seal the mold

    Thread wicking through the base hole, anchor it at the top with a wick bar, and press a ball of mold putty over the base hole so the seal holds against the pour. Set the mold on a cookie sheet to catch any leak.

    Hands threading a white wick through the base hole of a square metal mold
  5. 5

    Pack the mold with crushed ice

    Fill the mold completely with crushed ice around the centered wick. Aim for chunks about three-quarters of an inch; the ice carves the holes, so smaller ice gives a finer lace and large ice leaves gaping voids.

    Metal cup mold packed with crushed ice around a centered metal wick rod on white
  6. 6

    Add fragrance

    Once the wax reaches the right temperature, weigh in the fragrance oil, commonly around 1 ounce per pound, and stir it through. Adding fragrance above its flash point is safe; the precaution that matters is keeping the oil away from open flame[2].

    Hand tilting a Lone Star Georgia Peach fragrance oil bottle over an aluminum pitcher on a digital scale
  7. 7

    Color the wax

    Stir in dye.

    Dye Blocks

    Cut the block into small pieces so it melts in quickly, then stir until the color is even.

    Hands using gray scissors to cut shavings from a black dye block over a white surface

    Liquid Dye

    Add it a few drops at a time and stir; you can always darken, but you cannot pull dye back out.

    Hands holding a Lone Star Navy/Country Blue liquid dye bottle and dropper over an aluminum pouring pitcher
  8. 8

    Drip-test the color

    Drip a little wax onto a paper towel or card and let it set. The cooled spot reads far closer to the finished shade than the dark liquid in the pot, so adjust the dye before you commit.

    Spoon dripping melted red wax onto a white card held in one hand for a color test
  9. 9

    Stir in UV stabilizer

    If the candle will live near a window or fluorescent light, mix in about half a teaspoon of UV stabilizer per pound and stir three to five minutes. Recheck that the wax is at 175°F to 185°F, then lift the pot from the water, using a hot pad if necessary.

    Spoon dropping white stearic acid powder into a stainless steel candle pouring pitcher
  10. 10

    Pour the hot wax over the ice

    Pour slowly and keep the stream moving around the mold rather than staying in one spot. The wax sets almost on contact with the ice; that fast set is what builds the lacy walls.

    Dark blue iced drink with ice cubes and a black straw in a tumbler glass
  11. 11

    Drain the meltwater

    The wax firms up fast because of the ice. Once it has set, drain the water from the mold over a sink, catching any loose wax flecks so they stay out of the drain.

    Close-up of a blue ice candle's pitted top with a metal wick pin inserted in the mold
  12. 12

    Decide on a second pour

    If you like the open holes, you are done; unmold, trim the wick, and apply the caution label. To fill some of the holes for a sturdier burn, leave the candle in the mold and move to the next step.

    Teal-blue holey ice candle sliding out of an aluminum pillar mold lying on its side
  13. 13

    Second pour, if you want one

    Fragrance and dye a fresh batch of wax, then pour it slowly into the cavities, moving the stream around so it fills evenly. A contrasting color here pools into the cavities for a marbled look.

    Teal ice candle with upright wick set inside an upright aluminum pillar mold
  14. 14

    Trim the wick and finish

    Once the candle is fully set, unmold it, trim the wick to a quarter inch with wick trimmers or scissors, and add a caution label if it is headed for sale[3].

    Finished pillar candle mottled with teal-blue and magenta holes from the ice technique

Color and Variation Ideas

The base method results in a single, stunning candle, but the variations are where ice candles get fun. Because the ice packs differently with every single pour, each project turns out completely unique.

Ways to Vary an Ice Candle

Single color

One dye, full coverage. The lace reads as light and shadow against a clean field of color.

Layered colors

Pour in stages as the wax sets, or run a contrasting second pour into the cavities for a marbled, two-tone shell.

Candle in ice

Stand a thin finished candle in the center of the mold and pack the ice around it. The ice candle forms a lacy outer shell around the solid candle core, creating a sturdier center section that can improve burn performance.

Burning Ice Candles Safely

Ice candles burn differently from a solid pillar, and the holes are the reason. Those open cavities act as channels, so melted wax escapes and trickles down the sides, and the wick tends to burn down fast. Set every ice candle on a pillar plate or a holder that catches overflow, and never burn one bare on furniture. Small pockets of water can also survive the drain and make the wick crackle as it reaches them, which is normal for the style.

Ready for more molded projects? Visit the Step-by-Step Guides hub for the full collection of tutorials.

Sources

  1. Safety with Candles National Fire Protection Association, 2024 ↩
  2. 29 CFR 1910.106 — Flammable liquids (definition of flashpoint) U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration ↩
  3. Candles — Business Guidance (ASTM F2058 fire-safety labeling) U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ↩

Frequently Asked Questions

What wax do you use for ice candles?

A hard paraffin pillar wax with a high melt point, such as IGI 4625. The wax is poured hot over ice, so it has to set crisply on contact with cold water instead of going soft. Low-melt blends are too soft and lose the clean lacy cavities that make an ice candle worth doing.

Can you use soy wax for ice candles?

You can experiment with soy pillar waxes, but hard paraffin pillar waxes typically produce the best results. The cavity-filled structure of an ice candle requires a strong wax, and many soy pillar blends are more brittle and prone to cracking or breakage than paraffin.

Why does an ice candle have holes in it?

The ice chunks packed into the mold hold their shape just long enough for the hot wax to set around them. As the ice melts, it leaves voids where it sat, and draining the water reveals them. Bigger ice means bigger holes, so most makers use chunks roughly three-quarters of an inch.

Can you burn an ice candle?

Yes, but it should be burned on a heat-safe plate or in a suitable holder. The open cavities can allow melted wax to escape and run down the sides of the candle. A second pour fills some of the cavities and helps the candle burn more like a traditional pillar. Many makers treat ice candles as decorative pieces.

What is a candle in ice versus an ice candle?

In candle making, the terms are usually used interchangeably. Both refer to a candle made by pouring wax over crushed ice, which melts away and leaves behind the characteristic honeycomb pattern. Some makers create variations by placing a finished candle in the center of the mold before pouring, but the project is still considered an ice candle.

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