SOCIAL MEDIA

Sunday 22 February 2015

Lets talk about unwaxing your candle...

I have soooo turned into my grandmother.. Soon I'm going to be washing out milk bags and using them in place of Ziplocks. Just kidding Newfoundland doesn't have bags of milk so
the Ziplocks live to see another day!

I can't stand throwing anything in the garbage anymore, I think about how many garbage bags my family (of 3) produces in the run of a week and it breaks my heart.

Our poor planet.

 I usually save everything in hopes of someday finding a craft or project that it will be good for.
Normally it works! Its just a matter of how long/where do you store all this junk in the process of awaiting the perfect craft. Luckily we have a garage and not many garage like hobbies so
its kind of turned into my craft room out there.

I'd been saving my Bath and Body works burned candles for quite some time in the hopes I would someday take the initiative and clean them out. The day is finally upon us!!

First things first.. place baby happily occupied in background: CHECK!


Remove covers and score up remaining wax. You're going to need a sharp knife for this. Make sure its a knife you never plan on using again.



Boil kettle and pour boiling water into candles..



Let sit for quite some time.. If you're impatient like me, every once and a while go swirl the water with the knife, but try to let the wax rise to the surface in its own time.


Once wax forms on the surface and cools slightly cut around edges with sharp knife and remove whole piece of wax (in addition plastic utensils are a handy assistant).



The main wax should be gone but there will be some bits and pieces remaining
boil kettle again and repeat process.


Here comes the elbow grease.. There will always be little bits of wax that the boiling water just wont cut through. So I took some baking soda on a roughed up rag and buffed the remaining wax off the glass. I then peeled off the labels and soaked the glass jars in the sink to remove any left over glue.

I'm not going to say it was easy the process took me all evening (and some) but I had 15 candles, in the future I wouldn't let them pile up that long. Just boiling enough water to fill 15 of those suckers..

So what did I do with all those jars you ask? I took them into Girl Guides and we filled them with homemade bath salts! (the kind for a bath!! not the you know drug assortment)

It started off as bath salts anyway but then the girls started brain storming what else we could use them for aka mainly a holder for things makeup brush holder (stick your brushes in the salt), pencil holder, candle holder (poor jars came full circle!), or just a pretty jar of sand to display!
Almost every girl decided to dye her salts rainbow colours.


^ Our Jars
I got the bath salt recipe off google
it was:
  • 3 parts Epsom salt to 1 part sea salt
  • essential oil
  • and add a tiny bit off food colouring if you want colour



^ I had some extra jars and I kind of love them!
 I always need storage and you could use them for anything from buttons to bows!

Reduce, reuse, recycle!










8 comments :

  1. Great post! I have never actually finished a candle, I use them until they are mostly done and then kind of forget about them haha. This is a great idea though I didn't think of using it for storage!

    christycee.blogspot.ca 

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    1. Thanks Christy :):) I felt so bad tossing them when some of them came with the cutest lids, so this worked out great!

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  2. This is a great idea! I have always thought about cleaning out my candles but never have! Thanks for sharing

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  3. I love reusing jars and pretty bottles from candles and food alike. I've recently had to limit what I keep though because it was becoming overwhelming, but hey, free jars rock!

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  4. Thank you! I have four candles that are too low to really burn so now I know how to recycle the containers! This is awesome :)

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  5. Great idea! I am always looking for ways to reuse or recycle items! It is a shame to throw things away that can be reused! I really love this idea...thanks for sharing!!

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  6. Loved the idea of them for the bathroom! I will be unwaxing soon!!

    Jeness

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  7. What a great idea! I usually try to burn every last bit out of my candles then throw them away. I just may have to try out this nifty little hack. :)

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