Candletricks

Ever wondered what to do with the little metallic "tea light" containers once you've burned off all the candle? Well, I'll tell you. 

Shove them in your ecobricks! 

Ecobricks needn't just be stuffed with plastic: any non-biodegradable material will do. And if you're a candle enthusiast with zero waste leanings like me, I'm willing to bet you've had a box or bag of these kicking around at one time or another. So, there you go. Get ecobricking.  Read my previous posts about the joys of ecobricks here and here.

That's not what this post is about though  It's about candles. I often find that burnt out tea lights leave you with some excess wax. If you collect this up, over time you can accumulate enough for a whole new candle. The whole ball of wax. I don't really know what that expression means. Anyway:

All you need now is a glass jar, and a wick. You can buy wicks from craft suppliers for a couple of quid for packets of 50 or so.  To make your candle, melt a few drops of wax into the bottom of the jar and position the base of the wick so it solidifies into place.

I was toying with the idea of putting the jar, wick and wax chunks and all, into the oven, inspired earlier this week by thoughts of sterilising jars in preparation for growing mushrooms in coffee grounds, but this becomes fiddly. It's a good way for sterilising jars for jams and chutnies, but doesn't really help much here*. Also, the solidified wax in the bottom of the jar melts along with the rest, allowing your wick to float freely before settling somewhere annoying, which isn't what you want. You want your wick to stay in the centre, all the way up. 

A superior solution is to let the first layer of wax cool entirely before adding any more. So while that's happening, melt the rest of your wax in a saucepan. Turn off the heat as soon as it's melted, and wait a few minutes for it to cool a little more before pouring into the jar. You'll end up with something like this:

Which is great. Here is that very same candle in action:

Which is great.

*I want to experiment a bit more with using the heat from a colling oven for other things, and wonder if candle making might be one option. The only use I've come up with so far is for drying herbs.

Related posts

Remember You're a Womble
Thoughts from a non empty room
Zero Waste Eating is Good for You
Eating from the Bottomless Pickle Jar







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