We Who Make Candles From Other Candles

Well folks. Things are going well for the team here at We Who Wander. And by the team I mean myself (Courtney), Hannah, and our significant others who were quite helpful this weekend in our latest crafting endeavor. We've reached four sales in our first two weeks, and have a custom order in the works that might actually enable us to break even from our initial investment. We even got our first positive feedback from a customer today- which may or may not have elicited a very emotional response from both Hannah and myself.

Anyhow. This past weekend the four of us embarked upon the journey of recycling some of the alarming supply of pillar candles that were left over from my wedding. We decided the best way to give them new life would be to break them down, melt them, and make new candles out of the wax. Of course, we had never actually done this before. Our first dilemma was how to break down the candles so they could be melted in our makeshift tin-can double boiler system. Initially we thought we could shave them down using knives and cheese graters.

Well. No. After a significant amount of time wasted attempting to shave down candles, we realized we would have to charge $100 a candle to cover the labor involved in our candle making adventure. This clearly wasn't going to work. (Below you can see my husband Matthew and I diligently shaving away)

We were quite disheartened at this point in time. We thought about lighting the candles and just pouring off the wax as it melted. This was unfortunately an even worse idea than our initial plan. And then it his us. Well. It hit Hannah's boyfriend Brent. What if we just smashed the candles and broke them into smaller pieces? Oh. Right.

So we sent Brent outside with a plastic bag full of candles and a hammer. He returned victoriously.

SUCCESS!

Next we used needle nose pliers to mangle some tin cans so they would have spouts, packed in the wax chunks, and placed them in a pot with two inches or so of boiling water.

The melting process was a little terrifying at first, but eventually we got the hang of it. We kept the burner on medium heat so it would go nice and slowly, and as soon as the wax started to liquefy we would stir continuously to ensure that everything was heating evenly. While it was melting, we dipped our wicks into the liquid wax to coat them and after they dried we glued them into the assorted vessels we had collected. As soon as all the wax chunks melted down and the liquid was totally smooth, we poured it into the vessels, careful not to let the wick fall into the pool of burning death. Other than a few minor mishaps, this process went smoothly. Once the containers were full, we fashioned a makeshift structure to keep the wick centered and as straight as possible.

In the end we created seven beautiful candles and were quite proud of ourselves. You can see the fruit of our labor listed in our shop- two sets of champagne flute candles and one set of vintage mugs. Number seven sadly was a casualty of crafting. He will be staying in my home where no one will judge him for his lumpy exterior.

And that is the story of how we made candles from other candles :) That's all for now,

-Courtney