Create hand-made presents for men and women

Here are some gorgeous DIY gift ideas that your friends, SO or family members will love. This list features some neutral options so you can also make DIY gifts for men such as your boyfriend or husband.

Hand-making something is a great way to show someone you care about them and the quality of the hand-made feel allows you to customize and add personality to the gift you want to give.

The gift ideas are:

1. DIY clay ring dishes
2. DIY bookmarks
3. DIY Hand-poured soy candles

Watch this video below to learn how to make them:

DIY Clay Ring Dishes

Polymer clay ring dishes: I remember when I was first stating out trying to use polymer clay, I had the most difficultly trying to determine how to pick the colors I liked while not messing up the marbled effect.

Picking colors for polymer clay patterns

So, I create a formula for creating the marbled effect where you have 4 base colors: white, pearl, elephant gray and jewel gold. The 5th customizable color can be any color you choose.

Color choice for men

DIY gift for men using polymer clay.

Another option would be to use black, gray, pearl and white to create a gender-neutral option that would be the perfect gift for your guy friend, boyfriend, husband or SO. Oh—and if you’re wondering about the cauliflower, it’s just something we added in for a personal touch because this friend hates cauliflower and we decided to be cruel (jking/not king).

Here are the ratio of each of the colors I used:

DIY bookmarks

Supplies for Resin Bookmark Making:

Below are supplies for making alcohol inked resin bookmarks. I also included links to the products I used and recommend for beginners.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase through my link (with no extra cost to you). Thank you for your support.

1. Resin Kit: Epoxy Resin Crystal Clear & Fast Curing
2. Alcohol Inks: Epoxy Resin Dye Vibrant Colors
3. Dried Flowers: Natural Dried Mixed Multi-Color Rose Hydrangea Daisy

Hand Poured Soy Candles:

Learning how to make your own DIY soy candles is a great skill to get under your belt because candles are a pretty safe gift to gift to anybody no matter what their background.

Supplies for Soy Candle Making:

Below are supplies for making soy candles. I also included links to the products I used and recommend for beginners.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you choose to make a purchase through my link (with no extra cost to you). Thank you for your support.

1. Candle Making Pouring Pot: EricX Light Candle Making Pouring Pot
2. Thermometer
3. Glass container or tin cans: LIYAR 8oz Round Tins 14 Pack
4. Pre-waxed Candle wicks: MILIVIXAY Candle Wick Bundle
5. Glue Dots (included in kit see link in bullet #4)
6. Centering Device (included in kit see link in bullet #4)
7. 8.5″ x 11″ Sticker Labels: Printable Sticker Paper (30 sheets)

NOTE: a lot of these supplies come in a bundle. For instance you can get wicks, glue dots and centering device from a kit.

Important soy-candle making tips to save time:

Getting an dedicated pot for melting the wax: it’s important so that there is even heat conductivity, otherwise the scented wax might overheat and it won’t deliver any scent which would be quite disappointing.

Testing: test, test, test. It’s often we don’t make a perfect candle on our first shot, it may not have a strong scent through, or maybe the wick isn’t burning the wax at all. Also make sure you wait 3-7 days for your wax to cure before testing.

Let the candle to burn the entire surface area completely: before blowing out the candle, let the entire first layer burn through (which could take 40 minutes to an hour. Also choosing the right wick is important, so you burn the first layer of wax completely and get the most out of your wax and avoid tunneling.

Narrow containers: narrower containers are better, but they may be harder to find. If you need to use a more wider circumference, use a thicker wick (with multiple braids) as it’ll burn more surface area. Additionally you can place two wicks instead of one to get more coverage.

Cylindric containers: avoid containers that are cone shaped (larger circumference at the top versus the bottom). An even width throughout allows for more even burning.

General Measurements for Soy Wax Candle Making:

• 1lb of wax for 1-floz fragrance (double-scent)
• 1lb of wax for 1.5-floz fragrance (triple-scent)
• 1lb can make about 3 candles using an 8oz tins (with 5.33oz of wax poured in each)

* It’s generally best to use a scale to measure the proper floz to wax ratio, however for the fragrances I use, generally 1-floz will equal 30ml (TBSP). So the measurements for millimeters in this blog post is dependent on if your weighing 1-floz and that being able to fit in a TBSP.

Measurements I used for various container sizes:

1 Large Glass Cup (20oz)

I thrifted this cute 20-oz glass container (see image above) from Goodwill with these adorable yellow bird and leaf patterns. The volume of the container was probably a bit over a pound. This is the amount of wax and fragrance I used:

• 10.66oz wax
• Fragrance:
  • 20ml for doublescent
  • 30ml for triplescent

1 Medium Glass Container (13oz)

I also thrifted this 13-oz clear glass container so that I can make gifts for him as well. Sandal wood, lavender and mint go so well together and your guy friend will love the candle you made and the scent.

• 8oz wax
• Fragrance:
  • 15ml for doublescent
  • 22.5ml for triplescent

1 Tin Can (8oz)

These 8-oz tin cans are perfect if you’re making a bunch for a group of friends. I got a 14 pack on Amazon for about 20 bucks.

• 5.33oz wax
• Fragrance:
  • 10ml for doublescent
  • 15ml for triplescent

DIY Candle Wax/Fragrance Ratio for Different Container sizes

		Small 8oz Tin	Medium 13oz Cup	Large 20oz Cup
Wax		5.33oz	8oz	10.66oz
Doublescent		10ml (0.34 fl-oz)	15ml (0.50 fl-oz)	20ml (0.68 fl-oz)
Triplescent		15ml (0.50 fl-oz)	22.5ml (0.76 fl-oz)	30ml (1 fl-oz)

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