The other day I was noticing the large number of old, mostly used candles sitting around my house. I wondered if there was any way to reuse them...Thanks to google I was able to come up with this cool craft!
For the candle you will need:
Old candles
A jar
Some twine
To make the candle you will need:
A pot
A heatproof glass bowl that fits inside the pot.
Water
Oven Mitts
Tongs
First, you’ll need to cut up the pieces of your old candle(s). It doesn't really what size, but smaller pieces will melt faster.
Place all the pieces in a glass bowl. A lot of people say that you can just microwave the pieces, but I decided to do it on the stove so I could keep a better eye on them. Fill your pot with water, and place the bowl inside the pot.
Turn the stove on and bring the water to a boil. Your wax will probably take a while to melt, so you can prepare some of the other things in the meantime. Just remember, the glass bowl will get very hot so make sure the bowl is heatsafe. I’m using one of the smallest Pyrex bowls in the set for this.
Okay, while you are waiting for the wax to melt, take your jar and wash and dry it. It’s important to wash your jar, so that you don’t have little bits of dust and dirt stuck in your candle. Take your twine and cut it so it’s about
twice the height of your jar.
Once the wax has melted, dip your twine into the bowl a few times so that it gets covered in wax. You’ll only need to dip about half of it into the wax.
(side note, if your wax is a rather ugly color because you used a lot of colored candles, you can break up a crayon and add it to your wax. This will add a nicer color.)
Take your twine (wick now!) and dip the bottom into the wax. A small drop of melted wax should form. Quickly stick this onto the bottom in the middle of your jar. This helps hold your wick into place. Now, take a clothespin and use that to help your wick stay upright.
At this point, if you want, you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to the wax.
Very, very, carefully lift the glass bowl out of the pan with oven mitts. Pour the hot wax into the jar, being careful to NOT burn yourself!
....and don’t pay attention to the spilled wax. If you -do- spill wax, wait a few moments for it to cool, and then you should be able to scrape it off pretty easily with a knife. You can just leave your candle on the counter to cool, or you can stick it in the fridge if you are impatient.
Once the candle has fully cooled, you should be able to slide it out of the jar.
I had gotten a bit of wax on the side of the candle, so I took a sharp knife and carefully cut around the edge. Then I trimmed the wick.
Grab a parent, and have them light the candle. I slid my candle back into the jar so that I wouldn’t drip wax everywhere. If the flame burns too high, blow it out, wait for it to cool, and then trim and re-light the wick.
Be sure to clean everything up thoroughly! Other members of your household won’t be very appreciative to find wax everywhere!
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