The Crafter’s Box Subscription Review – October 2017

The Crafter's Box is a monthly DIY subscription "for people who love to make, build, shape, design, and create." Each box includes supplies for one craft as well as access to online instruction by the featured maker of the month. 

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

The Subscription Box: The Crafter's Box

The Cost: $65 a month + free shipping, or $60 a month with a 3-month subscription. An optional add-on kit is also available; its price varies each month.

The Products: A curated box of craft materials and specialty tools assembled in collaboration with an artist/maker.

Ships to: US (for free), $10 to Canada and $20 everywhere else.

Check out all of our The Crafter's Box reviews and the DIY + Crafting Subscription Box Directory!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

October's box features Kristen Pumphrey of P.F. Candle, Co. The cards give some information about Kristen and a list of the box contents. 

Instruction with Kristen Pumphrey – Value $25 (This is the 'video only' price during their twice-a-year pop-up sales.)

This video was only about nine minutes long but covered the basics of making scented candles. I wouldn't pay $25 just for this video, but the instructions were helpful. In addition to the video, there is also an hour-long maker's chat session where you can ask questions directly. I often find these sessions to be better than the actual videos, so if you subscribe to this box, don't forget to attend!

Candle Making Pitcher – Estimated Value $9.39? (value based on a similar item)

This pitcher is used to melt the wax and pour it into glass jars. 

Taylor Candy Thermometer – Retail Value $5.29

This candy thermometer worked well to tell the temperature for pouring the wax. The only issue I had was that sometimes it fogged up and was a little hard to read.

The soy wax flakes were divided into three bags, one for each candle. 

Three lidded glass jars were included. Each came in its own box, perfect for gifting or storage.

Three scented oils were provided: sandalwood, rosemary, and bergamot. The sandalwood was my favorite, but it was fun to see how the scents blended together. 

The kit also included clothespins, wicks and paper strips, which were used for testing fragrances.

These stickers provide space to label each candle with its custom-blended scent. 

The first step was to put sticky dots on the candle wicks. 

After that, I stuck the wicks to the bottom of the glass. I didn't think stickers on glass would work, but these are incredibly strong. You have to be careful when placing them because once they're stuck on, they're not coming off again. 

Next, I put the wax in the pitcher and used it as a double boiler to heat the wax. Once it had melted, I took it out and added the fragrance oil. 

After stirring for two minutes, I poured the scented wax into the glass jar. In this photo, the wax is still completely melted. The clothespin at the top is keeping the wick straight. I found the clothespins to be a bit small and would have preferred larger ones, but they did the job.

Here's the candle after it cooled for 24 hours. The next step is to trim the wick with scissors. 

Here's the finished candle! The finishing touch is to add the label and write the fragrance on it. 

The candles look very professional, like something you'd buy in a shop. They smelled wonderful, though if I make more, I might add more fragrance than I used for this batch. The sandalwood and bergamot combination was my favorite!

This isn't part of the regular subscription, but an add-on kit was available that included supplies to make three more candles using clove, rose and lavender oils. It also included a custom wheel-thrown tumbler from Emily Reinhardt of The Object Enthusiast. 

Verdict: The reusable supplies (pitcher + thermometer) are worth around $15, so that means each candle cost about $17, although I still had a lot of the fragrance oil left over by the end. There are similar candle-making kits on Amazon, but I like the video instruction and having someone to ask for help if I need it. This was my first time making candles and they all turned out perfectly, even though I'm usually a disaster in the kitchen. I had never double boiled anything before in my life. Trust me –  if I can make these candles, anybody can make these candles.

I'd also like to add that there was a small issue with my order this month, and The Crafter's Box was great about fixing it. Their customer service can take a few days, but they are stellar about resolving any issues. 

This box is no longer available, but is likely to be in their December pop-up shop. If you order now, you will receive the December box; the project will be announced on November 10. You can also ask to be waitlisted for the November project, which is calligraphy. 

What do you think of October's The Crafter's Box? Do you have a favorite fragrance for candles?