Candle re-cycling

[snow hope]

My wife uses a lot of candles (smelly and for atmsophere I suppose), but we keep a reasonable stock for the couple of power failures we get most years. We have kept all the remnants and I need advise how to make up new candles. For instance where do you get new wicks? How do you get the wick to be in the centre of the newly made candle. How do you make a new candle? Is it possible to make your own candles from scratch?

Does anybody know about such things? Cause I don't.

[clv101]

From memory going back best part of 15 years we used to make candles from old wax but also had to add some new wax to make it work right... otherwise your new candle doesn't burn correctly and just melts! You can get rubber candle moulds but we used drain pipes, with foil and tape over one end and a match stick suspending the wick at the other. It's important to get the correct grade of wick for the diameter of the candle. Filling up your tube with molten wax can also be tricky since as it cools it can leave vertical holes... so they need toping up with molten wax as they cool. Run the pipe under hot water to get them out of the pipe after setting... I think that's all I can remember but I expect there's lots of information on the web!

[mikepepler]

My wife uses a lot of candles (smelly and for atmsophere I suppose), but we keep a reasonable stock for the couple of power failures we get most years. We have kept all the remnants and I need advise how to make up new candles. For instance where do you get new wicks? How do you get the wick to be in the centre of the newly made candle. How do you make a new candle? Is it possible to make your own candles from scratch?

Does anybody know about such things? Cause I don't.

I've made quite a few candles from raw materials. There are a variety of people willing to sell you the stuff:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=uk ... es&spell=1

For a new candle, you melt wax beads and add about 10% stearin (to make the wax harder, and I think it helps it contract when cooling), and also any dye or scent you might want. You melt all this in a small saucepan inside a bigger one full of water. This keeps the temeprature at or below 100C, so avoiding reaching the flash-point of the wax, which would be dangerous!!

You have a plastic (other materials may do, but I've never tried) mould through which you thread a wick, tied round a pencil across one end of the mould, and threaded through the small hole at the other end, then sealed in (I use blu-tak, but there's some putty you can get as well I think). The end of the wick that comes out of the mould has to be taped onto the outside of it, as it must be taut within the mould. You should also wipe the inside of the mould with veg oil, so the candle doesn't stick.

Once all this is set up, you pour the wax/stearin/dye mixture into the mould, and then place the whole thing into cold water. Remember it will try and float, so you either need the water level well below the edge of the mould, or else you weight it to keep it down. Don't get any water into the wax! Sometimes the wax contracts a lot as it cools, and you get a depression in the mould - if you keep some leftover wax melted in the pan, you can fill this in after 30-60 minutes.

Once it's cooled (several hours, best left overnight), you untape/cut the wick from the mould/pencil, and out comes the candle!

Now, for recycling old candles, the procedure is basically the same, and if you use dyes appropriately, you'd never know it wasn't a new one. One important difference is that you don't need to add any more stearin, as the original candle should have a suitable amount in it anyway.

If you fancy getting adventurous, here are some of the things I've tried:

- different moulds - short & fat, tall & skinny, hexagonal, spherical. It's worth figuring out which make the best burning candles, and give off the most light, as well as which look nicest.

- different wicks - the width of the wick should be adjusted to match the mould, but there is a wide range you can play with. Thick wick = big flame = bigger pool of melted wax

- make a small clear candle in the middle of a long wick, then suspend it inside a larger mould into which you add dyed wax - you get a nice coloured light coming out through the whole candle.

- make a clear candle, and drip coloured wax in streaks over it.

- try putting lumps of coloured solid wax into a clear candle, or pouring two wax colours together into the mould, somehow stopping them from mixing too much.

As you can see, there's quite a lot of variables to play with, some affecting burn time and brightness, and others just affecting aesthetics. Mind you, if you can make cool looking candles, maybe you could sell them - could be a viable post-peak income!

Oh, and it's actually quite good fun!

[snow hope]

Thanks guys. Yes the thought had occurred to me for a commercial or post peak venture.

[aliwood]

You can make moulds from cardboard, Ebay looks good for supplies. I looked into this a couple of weeks ago and found several useful books in my local library so it might be worth a try there snowhope. Forums like rivercottage.net or downsizer.net might be useful too, lots of creative folks around there.

[tattercoats]

Don't forget there's beeswax anywhere honey is made, and that makes lovely candles too.

Rushlights and tallow candles smell less nice, but give off light as well - I'm hoping to get me a load of beef fat from my local butcher to clarify and try using for tallow lights.

More fun with old candles; melt some coloured wax and pour slowly into a bucket of cold water. It will set in stantly in threads. Scrunchthem up a bit and fill your candle mound, then refill in the spaces with white wax. Lots of fun.

Making our own wicks, anyone?

[Norm]

I tried dipped candles for the first time today. Very satisfying work but quite time consuming. I only did 4 as a trial but if I had done more, the prep time would have been the same. I need to get some aids set up to hold a number of the wicks/candles and find a device to allow multiple wick dipping. I tried hand rolling them on glass but found it didn't quite make them totally regular and round. I guess it takes some practice.







I have also dipped some dried esparto grass rushes into the wax to see how they burn.

[emordnilap]

We have all sorts of odds and ends of candles which won't light - wick gone or fallen in or whatever.

I've made 'new' candles out of them before now, using things like wide jam jars or heavy glass tumblers.

Now, aficionados will specify the correct wick and mix of wax etc but all I do is get ordinary string, tie it to a nail and dangle the string across the container, making sure it's reasonably straight.

Then throw the bits in the container and put it on a trivet on the stove in the coolest part. Not to be recommended on a very cold night when the fire's blazing!

Add bits as the wax melts. Burn the candle in the container.

Lazy person's candles. It works!

Dinor: an asparagus pan might be better but well done all the same.

[adam2]

If making candles as an emergency light source, or to save money, then I suggest dipped candles as being the simplest.
Although string and other materials can be used as improvised wicks, the results tend to be inferior to those obtained useing proper wick.

In emergency it is of course possible to melt wax directly over a heat source without useing a double boiler. The fire risk is considerable however and I would only consider this OUTDOORS well away from anything important.

If making your own candles sounds too much trouble and mess, then I would urge buying a large supply of candle wick, storing it, and saving all candle ends and waste wax. Candles could then be made in any future shortage.

[Downshiftgal]

Biggest boost to my candlemaking adventures was the discovery that the *perfect* thing for melting leftover candlewax is an old slowcooker. No direct flame, so no danger of spontaneous combustion. I have an old one (two person size - my family is now 4 plus visitors!) which I just chuck all my candlestubs into when they are finished, and when the crock is full, I turn it on and make some candles!

I pour the wax into contaners or moulds, and use woven cotton wicks, suspended with old-fashioned 'bobby' hairpins in the middle of the mould. If you feel handy, you can lucet wicks easily with 100% crochet cotton (available cheap at any craft shop).

Of course, if you throw all sorts of colours and smells in together and then melt them together, you get the 'plasticene' effect, ie. no matter how many colours you started with, everything ends up Poo brown!

[Norm]

We tried one of the beeswax candles the other night. It burned for over 4 hours with a big bright flame and with no smoke or smell. Not bad for a 10" candle.