now, call me old fashioned...but I get frustrated at anything wasteful. I had loads of old half-used, burnt out candles and empty jars and I was sure they could be recycled...
I chopped them up...melted them over some hot water...
and used the wicks out of other old candles (you could use cheap white dining candles and chop out the wicks or you can buy wicks but that defeats the object of recycling) and added the extra wax to the mix.. I cut the wicks to length and taped them to a pencil to suspend them in the wax until dry. Put the wick in place before you carefully pour in the wax - it won't move about too much...
let them fully harden, overnight is best, and then I added some labels I made from Graphics Fairy images...
(they haven't quite dried in the photo hence the wrinkles - sorry!)
they are 'Cinnamon Orange' and 'Christmas Home'
I used mixes of left over candles I already had, but maybe you could add essential oils to create your own fragrances - I haven't tried that so can't advise!
This was a good project for a very snowy afternoon here and I restocked my scented candle cupboard!
Health and safety: I don't want to insult your intelligence but...remember you're using very hot wax, water etc so watch out for kids, pets, fingers etc.
You have inspired me to try this. I've thought of doing this with burned down candles for ages but just never got around to it. Such a waste too. Your exceptional tutorial makes it look quite doable and possible so will be getting out the dbl boiler soon. So glad you posted this and thanks for the inspiration. Happy New year
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm so pleased you liked this, I was amazed at how many 'new' candles I could make out of what would, otherwise, be thrown out - great recycling always makes me happy!!
DeleteKerry, I love your ideas on recycling candles, I like to add spices to the wax, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, all work great. I really like your blog. Trisha
ReplyDeletethat's a great idea Trisha, I'll do that next time!
ReplyDelete