Celebrate pumpkin spice season with these easy wax melts made with essential oils.

Yes, it's another pumpkin spice tutorial. I just can't help myself. I love pumpkin spice season!

Today, I'm going to show you how to make a DIY pumpkin spice essential oil wax melt. You can pop these in a tart burner and enjoy pumpkin spice in just a few minutes.

Back in the day, when I was selling my soaps, lotions, and other bath products, I also used to sell candles and wax melts. I had a lot of fun making candles, but it was a lot of work.

When you make candles, you have to test each fragrance in each wax with different wicks. The right percentage of fragrance to wax might be fine for one scent. but the next one won't work. It's the same with wicks.

Each new scent or container can take several tries before you get it right.

Luckily, wax melts are a lot easier to make. Since there's no container or wick, you just have to test the wax and the scent. With wax melts, most fragrance oils will follow the same ratio.

DIY PUMPKIN SPICE ESSENTIAL OIL WAX MELTS

SOY WAX

I prefer to use soy wax because it burns cleaner than paraffin wax. It's less likely to trigger allergies and asthma because it doesn't have pollutants or toxins in it.

I live in farm country, so there are soy fields all over the place. I know these farmers. I sit next to them in church, and their kids are in my kids' scout troops or martial arts classes. I would rather support the farmers who grow the soy.

Soy is a renewable resource, but paraffin wax is made from a gasoline by-product. Paraffin wax isn't biodegradable, but soy wax is.

I get my soy wax at Bolek's. I use a container wax, so that's why I add stearic acid, which I'll talk about next.

STEARIC ACID

Stearic acid is used as a thickener in lotions, and it also hardens soaps and candles. It's a vegetable derived waxy substance.

I use a container wax, so I add some stearic acid. Container wax is fairly soft. If you don't use stearic acid, it's difficult to get the wax out of the tart burner. You'll have to use a spoon or a butter knife to scrape it out.

Stearic acid makes the wax shrink slightly when it cools, so the wax will pop out of the mold. You might still need to use a butter knife to loosen it, but it will come out easier.

You don't have to use stearic acid in this recipe. I just prefer it and I have it, so I use it.

ESSENTIAL OILS

I have made DIY wax melts with both fragrance oils and essential oils. I'm moving towards more natural living, so I am using essential oils now.

Since it's fall, I used Essence of Pumpkin Pie from Crafty Bubbles (Right Note). It's a blend of cinnamon, clove, vanilla, nutmeg, and ginger.

It's part of their Holiday Favorites set of essential oils and natural fragrance oils.

It has a great throw in these DIY wax melts made with essential oils. It's not too overpowering, and the spices really blend together well.

You can use other essential oils. Just keep the amount of oils to wax the same. You might need to make some adjustments.

Try this pumpkin spice essential oil blend for a fall scent.

MOLD

You can use any mold that you'd like to make these wax melts. I have a cute little pumpkin silicone mold, so I used that. I don't even remember where I got it, but I did find this pumpkin silicone mold on Amazon.

You can also use clamshells to pour into, and they double as storage. You can use just about any silicone or heat safe plastic mold, but you want them to be about 1 inch cubed. My little pumpkins are smaller, so I add two at a time.

If your mold doesn't have the ounces listed, there's a quick trick to calculating how much wax you need. Just fill a measuring cup and note the amount of water. Then fill the cavities of the mold and see how much water you used. Double that in volume for soy wax flakes.

So if you used one cup of water to fill your mold, melt two cups of soy wax.

This isn't exact. You might have a little extra leftover. I always keep little souffle cups on hand to pour the extras into.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound soy wax
3-6 tablespoons stearic acid (optional)
5 mL Essence of Pumpkin Pie Essential Oil Blend
Pumpkin mold
Double boiler
Digital scale

STEP #1

Put the soy wax and stearic acid, if you're using it, in a double boiler. Don't ever heat wax over direct heat; you have to use a double boiler.

If you don't have one, put the wax in a glass bowl or Pyrex measuring cup. Set it on a canning ring inside a pot of water. Turn on the heat to medium.

Let it sit in the hot water until melted. You can stir it to help it heat evenly.

STEP #2

Carefully remove the wax from heat. Let it sit until it reaches 185 degrees. If you add the essential oils when it's over 190 degrees, they will burn off. Add the essential oils and stir well.

I use a laser thermometer to check the temperature.

STEP #3

Carefully pour into your pumpkin mold or any other small mold.

Let cool completely. I let my DIY pumpkin spice essential oil wax melts sit for 24 hours before I burn them.

Add one or two to your tart burner and enjoy a home filled with the scent of fall!

I have several tart burners. My husband just got me the adorable owl tart burner that you see here from Lehman's. I don't see it on the website though. Here are some adorable tart burners on Amazon.

I use it in my office because it plugs in. I bought a timer to plug it into so I never have to worry about turning it off.

I also have the tea light style wax melts. I like them, but I have to be careful burning them because we have cats. I set them on a shelf that the cats never get onto.

I have an owl tart burner for my living room and a sunflower one for my kitchen. Here are some really cute handmade ones on Etsy.