Bring the Tropics Home with Monstera Candles and DIY Leaf-Shaped Candle Projects

Bringing the Tropics Indoors with Monstera-Inspired Candles

Monsteras, with their iconic split leaves and tropical vibes, have become wildly popular houseplants in recent years. As the #plantmom community continues to grow, more and more people are finding ways to incorporate the monstera aesthetic into their home decor. One creative way to achieve this is through uniquely designed candles featuring monstera-inspired shapes, colors, and fragrances.

The Allure of Monsteras

Native to the rainforests of Central and South America, monsteras are often called "Swiss cheese plants" thanks to the iconic holes and splits in their leaves. There's something about these holes that people find so visually appealing. Maybe it's because they create such an interesting play of light and shadow. Or perhaps they evoke a sense of the wild tropics right in your living room.

Beyond their leaf holes, monsteras feature stunningly vibrant green colors ranging from chartreuse to deep emerald. Their leaves can grow over 3 feet long on climbing stems, so they make quite the statement. Finally, monsteras are one of the easiest houseplants to care for. This combination of factors helps explain why they've become so popular in recent years.

Bringing the Look and Scent Indoors

For plant parents looking to expand that monstera energy beyond the actual plant, monstera-shaped candles are a fabulous decorative option. Not only do they capture the plant's iconic aesthetics, but creative candle makers are now taking inspiration from monsteras to craft gorgeous botanical fragrances as well.

Large pillar candles sculpted into monstera leaves with realistic holes and vein details create a gorgeous glow perfect for cozy living rooms. Massive statement candles molded from real monstera leaves take this concept even further for dramatic impact. More petite votive candles and tea lights also adopt the monstera shape for playful twists on traditional candles.

Complex Botanical Fragrances

On the fragrance front, monstera-inspired candles feature fresh and complex essential oil blends designed to evoke lush greenery and tropical escapes. Top notes of crisp greens, like ivy and fern, mingle with juicy citrus fruits and traces of white floral for bright pop. Middle notes of pine add forest depth, while base notes of musk and amber add warming balance.

Through artful fragrance design, these candles manage to bottle the sensation of meandering through a monstera's tropical habitat, with sunlight filtering down through large split leaves all around you. Every breathtaking detail surrounding the plant—from snaking vines to bright flowering understory plants to damp, fertile soil—becomes captured in scent.

Displaying Monstera Candles

When decorating with monstera candles, clustering your various shapes, sizes, and fragrances together creates major impact. This allows the candles to play off one another for a bold monstera moment. For most variety, include tall taper candles, short votives, leaf-shaped pillars, and realistic molded sculptures.

For fun use oversize monster leaves as candle holders themselves. Attaching candle pillars to the undersides of large faux monstera leaves and suspending them over a dining table or above a living room seating area generates an instant urban jungle aesthetic. The floating display surrounds you with vibrant monstera vibes amplified through tropical candle fragrances.

Gifting for Plant Lovers

Finally, monstera candles make perfect gifts for the #plantmom in your life. They encapsulate two major home decor trends—houseplants and candles—in a single gorgeous product. And even hobby gardeners without space for large container plants can enjoy a little monstera magic through artisanal candles.

From birthday and holiday gifts to small "just because" presents, a monstera-shaped candle never fails to delight. Choose a fragrance you think your giftee will enjoy and watch their face light up when they unwrap an unexpected bit of indoor jungle luxury.

Bring Your Own Jungle Vibes with DIY Monstera Candles

Want to try making your own artistic monstera candles at home? DIY monstera leaf candles allow you to customize fun tropical decor perfect for plant parents. With a few simple supplies and easy molding techniques, you can craft gorgeous green candles that look just like real monsteras in no time.

Choosing Your Candle Wax

First, select a high-quality candle wax. Soy wax generally performs better than cheaper paraffin wax for detailed molded candles. Soy wax has a lower melting point which makes it easier to mix, color, and pour. It also produces less smoke while burning for a cleaner candle-making experience.

Most candle makers recommend using Golden natural soy wax flakes for optimum results. But other varieties can also work well. Avoid wax with added fragrances or dyes, as you’ll add your own botanical scent blend later.

Prepping Your Monstera Leaf

Next, hunt down a large, healthy monstera leaf to use as your candle mold. The iconic splits and holes will shape melted wax into natural-looking monstera forms. Gently wash and thoroughly dry the leaf to remove dust or residue.

Apply a thin layer of petroleum jelly over the entire leaf, especially the edges and any splits or holes. This acts as a release agent allowing easy removal of hardened candles. Place the leaf vein-side down onto parchment paper.

Coloring and Scenting Soy Wax

To color soy wax, liquid candle dye works best. A few drops of light green dye into melted wax mimics monstera leaf color. You can also experiment with variegated looks by swirling in dots of white and lime dye.

For realistic monstera fragrance, try blending essential oils like ivy, fern, citrus, floral, pine, musk, and light woodsy notes. Use an online essential oil calculator to find the right number of drops per ounce of wax.

Pouring and Cooling Monstera Leaf Candles

Working carefully to avoid burns, slowly pour your colored, scented soy wax into the mold, starting from the leaf tip. Tilt the mold gently to encourage wax into all crevices and holes for detailed filling.

As it cools and hardens, use bamboo skewers to poke more wax into any shallow spots to finish filling holes or thin spaces around leaf edges. Allow the candle to fully set and harden overnight before attempting removal.

Gently flexing the dried leaf should pop the hardened candle out easily thanks to petroleum jelly prep. Reveal gorgeous botanical candle creations perfect for home jungle decor or thoughtful handmade gifts!

FAQs

What are the most popular monstera candle scents?

Top-selling monstera candle scents tend to evoke the plant's tropical habitat with notes like rainforest greens, citrus, white florals, pine, and light musk or amber.

How long do monstera-shaped candles burn?

Like standard candles, monstera-shaped candle burn times vary based on size, wax type, wick thickness, etc. Smaller votives may burn for up to 10 hours while large leaf pillars can burn for 60-80 hours.

Is it hard to make my own monstera soy candles?

With quality materials and some basic techniques, DIY monstera leaf candles are very achievable! Just mold soy wax over a prepped monstera leaf and let fully harden overnight before removing.

What makes the perfect gift for a plant parent?

Houseplant lovers go wild over thoughtfully crafted botanical products like monstera leaf candles. Their gorgeous natural shapes and rainforest scents encapsulate trendy plant decor in candle form!