Recycling Your Candles

Hey, don't throw your old wax away. I've salvaged many candles and saved lots of money by re-using wax!! Once my dad was trying to dry out our wet bedroom and turned on 2 de-humidifyers and closed the door of our room. The result? All the candles in my bedroom slumped over from the heat. About 100 dollars worth of candles. Ruined? No. I just melted them down and put new wicks in them and made new candles.

I've been burning candles like a madwoman lately and two of them were just a hairs breath away from death. So, I figured it was candle recycling time. I had just gotten done making chicken nuggets, too, so my oven was warm. Don't know how to simply recycle candles? Well, here's how:

This is for candles that come in a glass jar, folks. Like Yankee candles (see example). When they get down to about and inch from the base, put the jars on a cookie sheet and slide them into an oven set to "Warm." The wax will liquify and you can pour it into something else, combining the wax of a few candles to make a recycled one. I used a chocolate one and a pumpkin pie one.

Be careful when handling the jars. They get pretty warm. And you might want to pick out the old wicks and holders - if not, just be careful not to pour them into your new candle.

For the mold, you can use a traditional candle mold and wick, or a new jar - whatever. But, I took a hint from this crafty chick and used a Dixie cup!! Fabulous idearsky, eh? (She melted down one huge candle for hers - don't throw that wax away, folks!!) I only had one left, too. I was kind of in a haste when I was doing it, though and my candle looked pretty ghetto compared to her pretty ones (while in process):

And, I got a little nervous when wax began to leak from the side. But it was all good. It's just like making regular candles, but more relaxing. (You can even make a big jar candle with different layers of different scents over time, just setting the recycled wax jar away until you are ready to add to it. Just make sure you wait for one layer to harden in between.) Normally I'd use an old mold, but I like her idea of the cup (easy clean up) better.

End result:

And it smells great, too. All I had to do was peel the cup away, trim the wick and light.

December 19, 2002