Zero waste tip: making candles from old candles
Anyone who burns candles from time to time will recognise it. The wick has burned out, but you still have quite a bit of your stub candle left. A one-way bin? No need for that! You can easily make new sustainable candles from the leftovers. Also a great activity to do with your (grand)children! What do you need?
Tools
- candle wick: you can buy this by the metre, but you can also get loose wicks with a wax coating
- leftover candles
- moulds: silicone cupcake moulds, empty toilet roll, empty juice or milk carton or an empty crisp canister also make very good moulds or use a nice vintage cup, for example
- empty glass or tin to melt the wax in
- pan
- old knife
- skewers or clothes pegs
- optional: essential (essential) oil
Instructions
- Cut leftover candle into small pieces. Remove leftover old wick.
- Melt the leftover candle au bain-marie. I used a glass jar in which I put the leftover candle, put it in a pan with a layer of water. Bring the water to the boil and then turn it on medium-high. You can add some drops of essential oil if you want.
- Make sure your mould is thoroughly clean. I used a toilet roll. With painter's tape, I taped the bottom tightly to prevent the melted wax from seeping through.
- If you have a wick without a layer of wax, briefly run the wick through the melted wax. This will keep the wick a bit firm and make it easier to keep it in place.
- Place the wick in the centre of your mould. To keep the wick in place, you can clamp it between a clothes peg, or between two skewers or hashis (chopsticks).
- To start, pour a small layer of melted wax into the mould. This helps to keep the wick in place at the bottom as well. You can use a skewer to move the wick slightly if necessary.
- Continue pouring the wax into the mould. Make sure you leave a little bit of wax, we will need it later.
- If using empty container or toilet roll: make sure your candle is completely cooled and solidified before removing it from the mould. You can tear off the cardboard in no time.
- When the candle has completely solidified, you will see that the candle gets a kind of hollow in the middle. You can solve this by filling the hole with some leftover melted wax.