Halloween Cauldron Candle

Create your own Halloween cauldron candle with this easy DIY tutorial. This green witches’ brew candle is decorated with bones, skulls, eyes, bats, and overflowing with bubbles. Add it to your spooky Halloween décor or to decorate your next Halloween party tablescape.

Halloween is such a fun time to create handmade decorations. I have an entire section dedicated to fun, spooky Halloween crafts and recipes.

I’ve had this idea to make my own witch’s brew cauldron candle for years and finally decided to give it a try. I’m so happy with the way it turned out! I made two because I couldn’t decide if I wanted to keep it as a decoration or burn one during our family Halloween movie night.

DIY Cauldron Candle

This handmade candle is made in a ceramic cauldron cup. You can usually find them as part of Halloween decorations or baking dishes this time of year.

The green candle wax has a bubbling effect with handmade wax bubble decorations on top. A white skull is nestled between bones, eyes, and a black bat. The witch’s brew candle was inspired by our Cauldron Cupcakes.

Supplies to make a witches brew cauldron candle:

• Ceramic cauldron
• Soy candle wax
• Candle wick
• Halloween fragrance oils
• Candle dye
• Mold putty or Halloween molds

How to make a Halloween cauldron candle (VIDEO TUTORIAL)

• Measure the amount of wax needed. A good estimate is to double the amount of wax flakes to the amount of liquid it will hold. A small ceramic cauldron will need around 2.5-3 cups of wax flakes.
• Glue the candle wick to the center of the ceramic cauldron.
• Melt the candle wax over a double boiler.
• Stir in fragrance and colorant. Candle dye bricks or mica powders work best.
• Pour into cauldron and stabilize the wick so that it stays centered.
• Once the candle has hardened, lightly melt the top layer with a heat gun. Place the decorations on while the top layer is melted.

How to make candle decorations

• I made my own molds using small toys and Halloween decorations using mold putty. Mold making putty is easy to use and great for making custom molds. Follow package directions to make the putty and press the item into the putty for 20 minutes. Remove the item and pour melted wax into the mold to create your own Halloween candle decorations. Since the decorations are wax, they are fire-safe and will melt along with the candle wax in the cauldron.
• I used a small bat, bones, and skull decorations to make molds. Tip: use dollar store candles or wax melts that have the color of the decorations you want to use. This helps eliminate the extra step of dyeing the candle wax. For example, I used a small black votive to melt for the bat mold. I then used leftover wax to decorate the white skull’s eyes and nose with a small brush.
• The green “bubbles” were made with round beads pressed into mold putty to make a custom bubble mold. I used a variety of sizes to create a dimensional effect with the bubbles.
• To make eyes you will need black and white melted candle wax. I simply dropped a dot of white wax on parchment paper then waited for it to dry before adding a smaller dot of black wax on top. This was the easiest way to make candle eyes without any extra supplies or molds.

Tips for decorating the top of a candle

The magic tool is a heat gun. Gently melt the top layer and work quickly to place the candle decorations on top. If you need to move pieces around, quickly reheat the area and reposition the decorations. I did this with the skull in the video. I decided I wanted it to face a different direction and repositioned it. To make things easier, try to get a general idea of the layout before getting started.

Another lesson I learned is to place the darkest decorations last. This way if you need to reheat and move items around, like the black bat, it won’t start to melt into the candle wax.

More Halloween ideas:

• Cheesecloth Ghosts
• Cauldron OREO Balls
• Halloween Candy Charcuterie Board
• Cauldron Cupcakes