Creative Hands: Candle Making

Creative Hands: Candle Making is happening at the Delores Duffie Recreation Center on Tuesday, September 8, from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM. It's part of the Creative Hands club, a series of workshops run by Austin Parks and Recreation where each meeting focuses on a different hands-on activity. This one is pitched at beginners, so you don't need any prior experience to jump in.

Over the course of the hour, you'll make a custom-scented candle from scratch. You get to pick your own fragrances and wax types, and you'll learn how to pour and decorate safely before taking your finished candle home. Since you're choosing the scent and the wax yourself, everyone walks away with something a little different.

The venue has its own history to lean on. The Delores Duffie Recreation Center and the Doris Miller Auditorium share a 31,500-square-foot site on the old Bertram-Huppertz place, which Rudolph Bertram bought in 1875. The older part of the building was his house; he was a local store owner in 1921, and seventeen acres went to the City of Austin after his son-in-law Charles Huppertz died. An after-school playground and center program started there in 1929, and the Parks and Recreation Department built out the park in the 1930s with tennis courts, a picnic area, a bandstand, and a baseball field. It's a long-standing part of the neighborhood, and this workshop is one of the programs it hosts.

It's a single hour on a Tuesday evening, and the cost is $20 per person. You'll leave with a candle you made yourself, and the session runs from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM at 1182 N Pleasant Valley Rd.