Candle Making 101

Reuse.  It’s a clear tenet of the Zero Waste movement.  Number three on the list according to Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home,¹ it is one way to reduce our material footprint, as well as our financial output.  My wife and I are always looking for ways to be more frugal and sustainable…  Let’s be honest, I was bored and needed a project.

We like to burn taper candles in these great hand-painted holders that we picked up at a local second-hand store.  It adds some ambiance to our nightly meals and gives off a softer light after a long day at work with fluorescents overhead.  (Or, these days, it makes a nice change of pace from our regular lightbulbs!)

So, with some wire and a recycled aluminum can, I constructed (we’ll use that term loosely) a double boiler.  I wrapped some wire around the top of the can as a handle with which to pick up the hot can and dump the melted wax into the reused glass vessels.  Next, I added the wax to be melted to the aluminum can.  The wax was chosen for its color (red and blue and white make raspberry?) The next part is pretty easy, just put some water in a pot and get the water hot.  I recommend medium heat so that the water doesn’t actually boil. Place the aluminum can filled with wax into the hot water and wait.  If you are tempted to turn the heat up because you are impatient like me, use this time to practice poise.  Once the wax is all melted, just use a pair of pliars…  during the writing of this post, I realized I’ve never before spelled the word pliears?…  nope, still wrong.

Take two:  Once the wax is all melted, just use a pair of pliers to pick it up by the wire and gently pour the melted wax into a prepared vessel.  In this case, I used an old candle holder; it’s ideal because the glass is able to take some heat.

I also created my own wicks.  I had some cotton string, and dipped it in the wax to pre-coat it.  I’m sure I’ll improve the technique as I do this more.  Here is a great article about making wicks with cotton string.²  I held the wicks up with a contraption I made with K’nex because I’m a child and my mother recently found them in the attic and bestowed them to me.  Good thing because I literally use them all the time…

This project was a lot of fun and, after lighting the candles, they do work!  They are not perfect.  The first pouring of the wax hardened with a huge hole in the middle and required more research.  Here is a good tip: “Reserve some of the wax.”³ This will finish off the candle. 

From a sustainability perspective, we want to be careful too.  Yes, we are reusing the wax from old candles, but it took energy from our stove top to re-create them.  It took new cotton string, and that string is not organic, or regenerative organic.  We think it is important to talk about these points and do better when purchasing cotton string next time.  Some day we will have solar panels on our roof, and therefore take care of the energy problem. 

So, in the end, these candles are better, but admittedly not perfect.

Sources: 

1.     1.    https://zerowastehome.com/

2.     2.   http://www.sewhistorically.com/how-to-make-diy-candle-wicks-with-cotton-string/

3.     3.   https://feltmagnet.com/crafts/CandlesMakeANewCandleFromLeftOverCandleStubs

      2/7/2021 Update:

      Well, the wicks fell over.  After burning the candles down a bit, the wicks did not have enough support from the surrounding wax to stand up straight, and they fell over and put themselves out.  Above, I reference the sewhistorically.com blog which gives some alternatives for homemade wick design.  Basically, you boil some water, add salt and the cotton string.  The blog says to dry them overnight, but I'm impatient when it comes to these projects so I heated up the oven to 375 deg. and they were done in 45 seconds... possibly a lower temperature would have been more appropriate, but as I said, I'm impatient. 

Anyway, the wicks now stand up very straight and stay that way throughout the candle burn.  That said, they got kind of smoky because the string is pretty thick and I used iodized salt (maybe sea salt is better?)

In the end, better, but still not perfect.  I'll probably continue to refine my process so check back sometime!