I love to burn nice candles. What always happens though, is I end up with a narrow channel burned down the centre of the candle leaving the majority of the wax unused.
Does anyone know how to avoid this? Or is there a way to sort of reuse the wax some how?
Well, one way to reuse wax is to make another candle with it. It’s not particularly difficult to do - I mean, I can do it and my general craft skills are woeful.
What I would do would be to collect a few old, useless candles of different colours. Wrap them in an old cloth and break them up with a hammer. Put the chunks into a prepared mould and pour in unstearinated wax. Result: instant 70s-style candle.
In general, the problem you mention occurs when the wick is too fine for the width of the candle. It’s either a design feature of the candle or a cock-up.
There’s typically a minimum burn time for candles; burning for too short a time results in the kind of thing the OP describes. For cylindrical candles, the rule of thumb is one hour of burn time for each inch of diameter. So, for a four-inch candle, you should let it burn at least 4 hours before extinguishing it.
Whats unstearinated wax? I tried searching for it but couldn’t find anything.
Basic information about stearin
Basically, it helps the wax burn and also makes the candle more opaque. But if you are trying to create a “chunks of wax of different colours” type effect, you want the wax you add to be somewhat transparent, so you can see the coloured chunks.
It’s possible to buy wax with stearin added already, or you can get the two things separately and mix as seems appropriate.
Nor do you have to get any extra wax. Just melt the wax you have, and make the candle entirely out of it. It’s obviously a sort of wax suitable for making candles, after all.
The recommended method for melting wax used to involve a double boiler, but there are probably methods for doing it in a microwave out there now.
Get some sort of burner designed for wax “tarts” and put chunks of your unburned candle in it. To see examples of what I’m talking about, go to the bizarrely-titled site tartburners.com. They have warmers that use a tea-light candle as well as electric warmers. These things are pretty widely available.
Well, you could melt any old wax you had, and it would make a functioning candle, but the OP expressed an interest in nice candles. I suppose if all of the spare wax was the same colour it might work OK. Otherwise it ends up sort of mud-coloured.
Two similar solutions will pillar candles. When you’ve got about 1/2 an inch or so of unmelted edge sticking above the puddle of melted wax surrounding the wick and the flame is getting longer;
1> Push in the soft edges of the candle, pressing the wax inward all the way around. This will raise the level of the wax inside and result in a lower flame, but if you’re consistent about doing this (and careful in doing so), you can burn the entire candle down to a coaster.
2> Same, but use a pocket knife to cut off sections and drop them into the center, making sure not to bury or flood the wick. Heck, if the wax is warm and soft enough, you can do it with a butter knife or a spoon. Just be careful not to cut your hand or jostle the candle too much (spilling hot wax or overturning the candle onto something that might be flamable) in the process.
Again, both techniques require some care.
Well, I wouldn’t melt all the different waxes together. I was thinking layering one color, and then the next color, and so on. Or just make one complete candle of each color, somewhat smaller than the original candles (the OP said that the majority of the wax was left over).
I have a coffee maker I got at a thrift store, just drop the wax in and plug it in. (note this is one of those perkolator type things, basically its just a warm pot to melt the wax in.
then pour into whatever mold you want.
Ah, I see what you mean. Either of those methods should work - I like doing layered candles myself.
The Yankee Candle stores sell decorative metal lids for jar candles for $5 that promote even burning. I was skeptical, but they work really well. Practically no waste.
Thanks, all for some really great tips!