Unique candle lighting effect.

I got bored the other day and decided to make my own candle, but a surprising lighting effect came out of it when I moved it to a darkened room, purely by chance.

The raw materials are very cheap. However availablility of one of the key items may be more difficult for people in other countries (the glass with the cool pattern effect). You might not be able to source exactly the same type but something close will give you your own unique lighting effect.

You will need -

1 - Ikea 100 x Glimma tea lights. I couldn't quite believe the price for these at our local Ikea -www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50097995 But sure enough, they let me walk out the shop with them after paying the whole £1.69!!! Thats 2.75 USD!
2 - One pint glass (or any beer glass) with an interesting glass pattern, you can use a normal glass but the effect wont be great. I picked mine up from Tescos in the UK. 

Looking on their site, they've got a big range of interesting glasses, I'm sure you could choose even a decorative wine glass, or even a decorative vase. You're looking for non-plain flat glass of course, no plastics.


Tools you will need -

1 - Handheld blue flame torch. Any type of torch will do which is waaay below the size of those plumbing blowtorches, I'm talking those hobby handheld small burners which you just squirt some butane gas into the bottom. Mine is the 'Iroda PT-200' but I'm not sure its still available -

www.pro-iroda.com/manuals/PT-200.pdf

2 - Pliers. Normal pliers.
3 - Microwave oven. *Optional* *YMMV*.

Step 1: Inspect the Glimma Tea Lights.

Pop down to your nearest Ikea (or mail order some in) and pick up some of their Tea Lights mentioned in the intro. You wont need anywhere near all 100 lights, but I'm sure you wont complain about having loads left over.

Open up the pack of Tea lights, pick one out. You will see that the wax and the aluminium cups easily separate, and that the wick can even be pulled out without damage, just straighten the wick out (it comes flattened against the wax) then pull on the round aluminium wick base.

This is the key to our customised candle, we're going to put four wax blocks from four tea lights in the bottom of the glass. If you want to speed things up, break them up into smaller chunks. This increases the surface area, and hence will melt quicker. I didn't do this myself until later. 

If you're using a different sized glass, bigger or smaller, adjust the amount of tealight chunks accordingly.
 
I'm sure you don' t need telling - remove them all from the aluminium cups, and remove all the wicks, then pop them into your beer glass. In the UK we call them pint glasses - damned imperialists that we are!

Comments

[l8nite]

The glass really does give a neat lighting effect. another way to melt the wax in the glass is to make a type of double boiler, lay a couple of butter knives in the bottom of a pan, rest the glass on the knives and fill the pot with water to just below the level of wax, being careful the glass doesnt begin to float or it will turn over and make a mess, heat the water to simmer and the wax will slowly melt

[Entropy512]

Double boiler is probably the safest way to do this, since it keeps the wax from getting above 250F or so. (It can spontaneously ignite somewhere in the 250-300F range, and it will burn VERY fast if already hot and molten.) Double boiler is how I make my firestarters. In my case I use a spare burner grate from one of the unused burners of my gas stove as the support for the wax pot. Some people apparently use Presto cooking pots, and in fact in some cases they add a spigot to the pot so they can directly pour wax from the pot.

[Heliosphan]

Good tip, thanks!
Actually reminds me of the best way of melting chocolate, will work just as well with wax.