How to make Candles!

Step 7 Clean up

Wax spills are inevitable. One of the best ways to clean them up is to lay a brown bag over the spill, and use an iron set on high to melt the wax onto the paper bag...voila!

Your tools are going to be a huge pain to clean up. My only suggestions are use few, use hot water, and use a rough brush to scrub it off.

Good luck, and Happy Hanukkah (/Christmas) !

Comments

[praise_song]

Here's what I do: I save up all those little bitty scraps of the ends of candles ... all colors, scents, sizes, etc. Break them in to smaller pieces, if necessary. Store 'em in a clean, 24-oz. pickle jar, with a lid on it. When you have quite a few bits and ends, put the entire jar into a 2-qt. pot, that has about 2"of water in it. You can place a boil-control mechanism under the jar, if you'd like... it helps to keep the "bouncing" down to a minimum, but it'snot necessary. Bring the water to a boil, and turn to med. low, just so the water keeps simmering around the glass jar. It will melt the wax, but will not ruin your cookware. When it's all melted, add your color and any scent you are using to the melted wax.
Using a potholder or two, pour the wax into your clean votives or whatever you're using as a container. Use whatever method you prefer for setting the wick. I use the pre-tabbed/pre-crimped ones, for ease. I buy them for $5.95/100pcs, and they last me a LONG, LONG time.
I am not a true "candle maker", per se, but I hate wasting all those little ends of candles ... once melted down, I can usually get 3 or 4 more votives ... and that's about $12+ , if you buy the Glade ones.
I use this jar-melt method, and I have NEVER had a spill, or any mess whatsoever. Whatever sticks inside the jar ... well, it'll be melted down into the next batch, the next time I make candles!
Oh! ... I also bought a 73¢ plastic, 3ml pipette (a dropper) at Sally Beauty Supply, and use it for my scents. I keep that JUST for measuring the scented oils, so no muss/no fuss w/ the scented oils, either.

[salt-n-burn]

Maybe something that would cut down a few steps would be to fashion some sort of base for the wick (A square or circle of thin cardboard, or thick paper, maybe.) You could poke a hole in it, thread the wick through, and tape a small piece of the wick to the underside. Then drop it in your container, and pour the wax over the whole thing. As far as getting the wick to stand straight... Any number of things could be fashioned to hold it centered. (Although I suppose it probably would be best to dip the wick first. I don't know about everyone else, but I have about a billion candle jars/holders lying around. Once the candle is spent, I always scrape out the excess wax and hold onto the container like I'll reuse it some day... Which thanks to this article, I just might! :) No one would ever know it was homemade. (Well, until you brag about it, of course!)

[stephNY]

Tea lights pretty much always have a small base like the one you suggest, a small circle of aluminum with a molded hole to hold the wick upright in the center of the candle. They don't get damaged at all from burning the candles, and are completely reusable. You can usually find tea lights at ten for a dollar at the dollar store, or at a hundred for five dollars at Target. (WHAT A DEAL!)

[j.w.mills]

Easy trick. If you have a gravel path or driveway take your tools there and poor boiling water over them the little bit of wax will help hold down dust this summer. It's the only good way to clean the strainer I use to get the bits of stuff out of recycled wax!

OR pop the tools in the large pot of the double boiler and boil a bit. Let cool skim hardened wax off the top and retrieve tools. You will only have a bit of wax at the water line of the pot to clean up. My bamboo scraper and a bit of hot soap and water takes care of that.

[Quester55]

Great Idea, But try this one for the molds; Buy or obtain a 1/2 gal milk in a Paper carton, remove the milk [ Drink it or place in another container] Wash & dry the milk carton. Cut the container top off at the top folds. Place the Wick on the bottom Center with piece of tape & tie remainder to wood pincle at the top. Now fill the container with ICE Cubes, followed by the melted wax & let stand until all wax is hardened. [About 5 min.] Remove pincle & peel away carton { Over the sink to drain off the water] Let candle stand overnight to dryout. Note some water may be trapped inside but your candle will be strange to look at.
Good-Luck

[Pentacle]

Wax can explode if you leave it in the microwave too long. I've done it... Not very fun to clean up. Eventually we got the hang of it and microwaved it a little at a time.

[Frindledon3]

could you put the wax in the can and microwave it??? if you can tell me how.

[Weissensteinburg]

First off, never microwave anything metal. I'm not sure if you were implying to microwave the soda can, but if you were, don't--it will ruin your microwave. If you're willing to do the cleanup required, you could try melting some wax in a microwave safe container. Just be wary that cleaning wax out of a container is hard. Before you do any substantial amount, though, I would try melting either a small chunk, or a crayon to see how it reacts.

[Stockvillain]

Popping your tools into the freezer for a few hours oughtta make that wax brittle enough to remove easily.

[Weissensteinburg]

I'll have to try that next time