If a glass is one that would normally hold heat – like a reused candle jar, tea cup, canning jar, etc, then it’s REALLY not too likely to break unless it’s dropped. I wouldn’t use REAL crystal. It is too sensitive to temperature changes. Crystal probably WOULD shatter. Thicker glass would probably NOT shatter, crack or break. If in doubt, set the empty glass in a cold oven and put the heat on “warm”. That would fix any potential problem.

You’ve warned that the wax should be allowed to cool to 125 degrees. Most people’s hot water straight from the tap is hotter than that. It would be hot enough to know you’ve touched something hot, but not so hot as to harm the average person. They have paraffin kits that you use to soften hands and feet that get this hot.

Using plastic/paper to mold the candle works – as long as you REMOVE the finished candle from either of these containers BEFORE you light the candle.

As for the metal being hot, what IDIOT would move either any open metal/glass container with hot liquid in it without using potholders or a LIT candle no matter WHAT type of container it’s in?? No candle should be moved as long as the wax is melted and certainly not as long as the flame is burning – unless it’s in a special “candle lantern” that has a long handle and completely contains the candle so that if the candle tips over, it can’t start a fire.

Yes, this craft is not one that young kids should be doing by themselves, however, it’s also not that “dangerous” to a competent adult or for a child to do WITH said adult. Perhaps though, “competent” is the keyword here.

Oh, do NOT get hot wax near water! It can cause a fire all on it’s onesies!

Let’s exercise a little common sense people! Simple precautions are easy.

Make sure you have a stable work surface, not a wobbly one. If you value the surface, cover it with newspaper or other protection that you DON’T care about. Make sure that it’s where you want the candles to cool for an hour or so and in a place where you can stop any little hands (or paws) from “inspecting”. (I gated the baby and the dog away from the kitchen.)
After about an hour, you can move the candle to higher ground, but before moving it, see if it’s hot enough to need potholders to move it. If it is, make sure that what you put it on is also heat resistant.

Make sure no water/liquid is where hot wax can fall into it.

Make sure an adult supervises any child(ren) participating in this project OR likely to be running around the work area. (Think NAP TIME here for the youngest family members.)

Make sure you FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS!

You can use your microwave temperature probe to bring the wax to 125 degrees. Just wipe off the wax really well while the probe is still wet.

Do NOT move/handle candles while the wax is HOT because the container will also be HOT! This is true of ANY container of hot stuff, not just candle wax.

Ok, off of soap box. It’s just that I’ve made candles as well as soap before WITH my small kids around. Precautions were taken, jobs given out according to coordination/age and I supervised from start to finish. And my kids responded to the word “no” pretty well – at least when it came to crafts with the potential to hurt them. It seems like now-a-days, kids have to be kept in a cocoon or “they’ll get hurt”. We’ve raised a generation of kids who parental attempts to keep them “safe” have left them afraid of their own shadows, so they try nothing new. Drives. me. nuts.

Great tutorial!

You should immediately add warnings to this tip about unsuitable votive containers, and list some suggestions for good ones, and about safe handling of melted wax.