Candle Crafting: Recycle the Remnants!

I have a slight addiction to burning scented candles. Over the years I've collected a mass of them with most the the candles coming from Bath and Body Works.

And these are the ones I hadn't melted down yet.

Initially, I threw the mostly empty containers away, but after a few, I realized that was a massive waste of materials. So, I started saving them. Recently, I decided it was time to make some "franken-candles" with the remnants of the multitude of candles. I've seen suggestions for wax removal all over the place- I've tried freezing the wax, but I prefer melting it with boiling water. Just pour it into the container and the wax melts and rises.

It also bubbles up like a lava lamp.

Leave it alone for a while and you can pop the hardened wax disk from the top. A few times I had to do it again, but otherwise this is a very easy way to get the wax out. Use olive oil to clean out any resisting wax and soot and use pliers to pull out the wick bases. Et voilà, clean.

Time to make my own candles. I didn't have enough of any one scent to make a new candle, so they're layered. After sticking in new wicks, I used the only thing I could find to keep them upright- painters tape.

It's what the pros use, I've heard.

Then I melted down on scent at a time and carefully poured it into the glass. I learned the hard way to not touch it AT ALL for a while. I spilled more wax than I'd like to admit. After one scent is completely set, pour in another. The previous layer will melt a tiny bit, but not enough to mix colors.layers/scents.

Evergreen, not long before I spilled some on the counter.

This day, I used 5 different scents of wax and made 2 new candles. I have enough wax to make at least 4 more, but I'll save those for another day. Possibly when the wax on the floor is finally gone.

That's all! This is an easy but time consuming project. Now I need to repurpose all the glass jars I have!

Music to craft to- John Mayer – Born and Raised