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    Candle Making

    I have a bunch of random glass containers, and a crapton of old candles. Wanted some tips on what to do! I need a new hobby, and I love candles. Figured this is a good idea. :P I also heard you can make candles with old crayons. Is this true?

    #2
    Re: Candle Making

    Originally posted by Vicariousparabol View Post
    I have a bunch of random glass containers, and a crapton of old candles. Wanted some tips on what to do! I need a new hobby, and I love candles. Figured this is a good idea. :P I also heard you can make candles with old crayons. Is this true?
    Making candles is super easy. I'd suggest (if you want to do it the cheapest way possible) is just to take a nice big tin can (like from a can of tomato juice or something) and clean it out really well. Get a saucepan, put some water in the saucepan on the stove top, put the tin can in the water, and then like a double boiler, you can put the candle wax in the tin can to melt. You will, however, need to go and buy wick. I've used hemp rope before in a pitch, but it burns poorly. Wicks aren't too expensive. A couple of years ago I bought myself a roll of it for $30 and I'm still using it.

    You'll also need a way to attach the wick to the bottom of your glass, and a way to hold it up once the wax is in there. I use a little bit of tinfoil at the end of the wick, dip it in the wax, and press it to the glass bottom. The other end, I take a BBQ skewer (I have loads in the house) and just dangle the wick over it once I pour in the wax.

    By the way, I think a crayon candle would smell horrible when it burns...


    Mostly art.

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      #3
      Re: Candle Making

      I never thought of the smell it'd put off... That does sound icky. I got a bunch of little birthday candles, and i figured i'd just stick them in the middle of semi-dried wax, so they'd stand up. Sounds funny, but I am only experimenting! Thanks for the tips, though.

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        #4
        Re: Candle Making

        we used to color candles back in grade school with crayons, as long as you go easy on the crayons, but the colors won't nessecarily be uber bright. there is alot of chalk in crayons so you get funky carcinogens... it is what it is tho.
        http://catcrowsnow.blogspot.com/

        But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness.... Which could obviously only be redeemed by passing through the fiery inferno of my digestive tract.
        ~Jim Butcher

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          #5
          Re: Candle Making

          If you want to use old crayons, you can melt them down to make new crayons. My mom does it for her class all the time. And yes, it does smell horrible. Warm crayon is NOT a good smell lol.

          If you want to melt down old candles, what I do is I use a really cheapo pot (it's just for melting wax) and heat them up on the stove on low heat. When it's melted, I take a jar and tie a pencil over it with a wick hanging down (so the wick stays straight) and pour in the wax.

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            #6
            Re: Candle Making

            Originally posted by DanieMarie View Post
            If you want to melt down old candles, what I do is I use a really cheapo pot (it's just for melting wax) and heat them up on the stove on low heat. When it's melted, I take a jar and tie a pencil over it with a wick hanging down (so the wick stays straight) and pour in the wax.
            That's actually a really neat idea! I've made candles the old fashioned "dunking" way once when I visited Green Field Village (Henry Ford Museum in MI). It was a lot of fun but super time consuming. Ain't nobody got time for that!
            Also, I don't know why I thought this was necessary but I read (or heard, most likely) once that the best way to melt wax isn't to put it in a pot straight over a flame but to put the wax in a pot inside a bigger pot with boiling water. I never really bothered to research this because I don't make my own candles but does this hold any truth or was it just a joke that I fell for?
            �Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.�
            ― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
            Sneak Attack
            Avatar picture by the wonderful and talented TJSGrimm.

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              #7
              Re: Candle Making

              I read that as well, but I find that in practice, the boiling water gets water in the wax too easily. That's why I go for the low heat.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Candle Making

                Originally posted by Eisheth View Post
                Also, I don't know why I thought this was necessary but I read (or heard, most likely) once that the best way to melt wax isn't to put it in a pot straight over a flame but to put the wax in a pot inside a bigger pot with boiling water. I never really bothered to research this because I don't make my own candles but does this hold any truth or was it just a joke that I fell for?
                Yup...I love the double boiler. Since you use a taller pot for candle dipping, water shouldn't get in the wax--I've actually never had that happen, even with candle making where the pot is open. It also keeps you from burning the wax. I use a double boiler for making salves, chocolates, etc--anything where burning=bad.

                Like this:


                But you can also DIY...I use a coffee can for candle making in a small saucepan:



                We store the candle wax bits in coffee cans, and pop them in a pot when they get full, to melt down and dip or to pour into glass jars. We've also made impressions in the sand and poured wax into them to make sand candles. For square candles, you can use milk cartons...and, if you put ice cubes in, and then pour in the wax, it makes cool holey candles.
                Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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                  #9
                  Re: Candle Making

                  Originally posted by thalassa View Post
                  and, if you put ice cubes in, and then pour in the wax, it makes cool holey candles.
                  Neaaat! I gotta try that!

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                    #10
                    Re: Candle Making

                    ice_candles.jpgJust watch when burning them, holes let wax flow freee!
                    http://catcrowsnow.blogspot.com/

                    But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness.... Which could obviously only be redeemed by passing through the fiery inferno of my digestive tract.
                    ~Jim Butcher

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Candle Making

                      The point of having a pot of water boiling and then the pot inside for wax, is so you don't catch the wax on fire. It's not burning you're worrying about; its catching the kitchen on fire!

                      I make candles all the time. I even sell them to local shops for some extra cash.


                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Candle Making

                        Originally posted by volcaniclastic View Post
                        Making candles is super easy. I'd suggest (if you want to do it the cheapest way possible) is just to take a nice big tin can (like from a can of tomato juice or something) and clean it out really well. Get a saucepan, put some water in the saucepan on the stove top, put the tin can in the water, and then like a double boiler, you can put the candle wax in the tin can to melt. You will, however, need to go and buy wick. I've used hemp rope before in a pitch, but it burns poorly. Wicks aren't too expensive. A couple of years ago I bought myself a roll of it for $30 and I'm still using it.
                        that is the cheapest way. i do it a little more expensive. never melted crayons though.
                        Do Not Meddle In The Affairs Of Dragons, For You Are Crunchy And Good With Kethup.

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                          #13
                          Re: Candle Making

                          I finally made the candles, and they turned out great Thanks, guys!

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Wax Disposal/Recycling?

                            I burn a LOT of candles in my spells.

                            I want to be more conscientious about how I dispose of the wax. Generally, I let it burn down into a blob and then just let it keep going, but that is terribly time consuming and possibly dangerous, considering the accumulated heat after several hours of burning on the waxy surface of a candle-plate.

                            Looking into some other traditions suggested burying it in the yard, or wrapping it in vegetable parchment. I'm not opposed to either of these ideas, but I can't help but think there's got to be some other way to be more resourceful with the wax, a suggestion that WON'T potentially burn my house down as I slip into accidental slumber whilst waiting for the flame to go out.

                            I'll take whatever you've got.
                            No one tells the wind which way to blow.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Wax Disposal/Recycling?

                              Keep all the little bits in a tin can, and when the can is full, melt it down and make new candles!


                              Mostly art.

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