Gift Idea 2: Recycled Candles Tutorial
/My kids love candles. They take an especial fancy to expensive pillars and delicate tapers, taking chunks out of them with their sharp little finger nails (so they smell nice), or brandishing them as swords while they wage epic battles with one another. However, their favorite thing to do with candles is carry them by their wicks, breaking them off in the process. Needless to say, candles in my house rarely live out their natural lives, turning slowly into stumpy little bits of over used wax. Our candles are broken, nicked, shapeless, wickless, masses of wax that have never been used. I hate to throw it out. The result; recycled candles.
How to Make Recycled Candles:
Supplies:
1. Broken Candles (feel free to mix colors, but be warned, mixing complementary colors like red and green will make muddy brown)
2. Wick (salvaged, homemade, or store bought)
3. Pretty Heat Safe Jar that the finished product will reside in
4. Something stiff that is longer than the jar's opening - like a pencil
5. A small heavy object to attach to the wick -like a washer (may not be needed if using a store bought wick)
6. A disposable, microwave and heat safe container to melt the wax in - like a paper cup or something from the recycling bin
7. A Microwave
8. A knife and cutting surface
Steps:
Using your cutting board and knife, cut your wax so that it go from resembling small rocks, like this....
.....to small pebbles, like this.
Place your small pieces of wax in your microwave safe container, and microwave on high until the wax obtains a liquid texture. Make to to check that the wax has not escaped it's container every 30 seconds to one minute.
While you are waiting for your wax to melt, prepare your jar to receive it. First attach your heavy object to your wick. As you can see, I simply tied a square knot around a washer. This is to make sure your wick stays in place while the wax is poured in the container.
Next, place the wick in the jar with the heavy object in the bottom of the jar, and the other end wrapped around something stiff covering the opening of the jar (I used a wrench because it was on hand). Be sure to center the wick over the middle of the jar, unless you would like an avant guard and likely shorted lived candle.
When the wax reaches liquid state, pout it into the jar.....
.....and let it cool.
Once it is cooled, snip the wick to 1/4th of an inch.
An your beautiful candle is ready to go.
Enjoy!
