candle types

"Ulysses" wrote

I missed most of this thread but I make candles as a home hobby which is also useful come storm season here. Note: Most of this below is not for homes with young children or curious cats.

Votives by design (along with tea lights which come in little metal cups) give off minimal light. Tea lights especially do not burn long and I have little use for them.

Votives in a strong (will not melt) glass can be useful as night lights when you are without power. Set them in the container then set the container in a small bakeable dish like a cassolet (just incase the container breaks which can happen). I have an old pyrex measuring cup where all the measures came off a long time ago, that gets used here. It sits in a bakeable cassolet. (I may be spelling it wrong, a cassolet is a small cassarole dish, more common to french cookery and makes a single serving).

Pillar candles with a thick wick (I use braided square cored wicks) which are 6 inches tall and 3 wide (may be double wicked meaning 2 of them about 1 inch apart) are best for light if not using an oil lamp. Always set these in a dish capable of holding the entire candle worth of melted wax and set that on something heat resistant (such as a dinner plate). I have several smallish colorful stone bowls and other bakeable but pretty dishes for this.

Taper candles are ok too but set the holder on a plate big enough to hold all the drips.

Many of those cute 'against the wall' sconches are actually too close to the wall to be used without fire hazard. I am told 6 inches away is the minimum and it sounds right. This may vary with an oil lamp as some types are meant to be mounted and have a flame resistant heat backer on the wall side which also reflects light back to the room. Even the oil lamp types I am thinking of, give a 4-5 inch from the wall clearance.

I've never had an oil lamp leak, but we keep them on a plate too just incase (or in a cassarole dish).

Reply to
cshenk
Loading thread data ...

The highest quality candles are beeswax. The dollar stores and Walmart carry the cheapest. Personally, it is not worth the time, mess, and fire risk to remelt candles.

Reply to
Phisherman

It occured to me after I posted that tea lights might be the kind of candles that can float on water in a suitable dish. The would help with the fire hazard part. It would be pretty easy to make some floating candles too.

>
Reply to
Ulysses

"Phisherman" wrote

Actually it is worth it. In the type I make, about 1/3 of the wax ends up being remade into new candles. I dont have beeswax (costs too much). Agreed the cheap airfluffed walmart stuff isnt worth the price.

Reply to
cshenk

"Ulysses" wrote

Sometimes the wax using in the little metal tea lights is floatable but mostly thats a special light weight wax. They are pretty, fairly firesafe, and a mess to clean up with the melted wax gets into the bowl (grin, dont dispair, they are fun and it's not that hard to dewax the bowl).

To dewax the bowl, use a 'crappy' old pot that you'll keep just to melt wax in. Place the bowl in there, fill with water to above the bowl, and turn on low. The wax will float to the top. Be careful to lift the bowl on something (a few canning rings works for me, used ones I have to replace anyways) or it may well crack.

To remelt wax, put the wax in a an old coffee tin if you dont have a real wax pot (coffee tin works fine, may rust over time and discolor the wax) then place that in your big 'crappy, just for melting wax' pot. Stove again on LOW.

The only fire safety aspect of melting wax is it has to be done in a water bath double boiler (crappy pot with a can inside works) and must be done on LOW. You want a *slow* cooler melt. Do not get frustrated and turn it up. The water in the 'crappy pot' should be just barely bubbling with tiny ones, if any at all.

Never try to dewax anything in the sink or dishwasher. That wax will cling to the drains and make an expensive fix as normal 'draino' type things will not work. Also, dont pour candles over the sink or set in the sink to cool as the mold may leak and your drain will fill with wax. Dont empty the wax boiling 'crappy' pot in the sink either.

Dump the water outside. It's gonna have a little wax in it but this is harmless to plants and animals (organic almost though most are petroleum related paraffins).

I also do my pouring out on the picnic table in the back yard. Any 'spills' there will be harmless. I have some old 'crappy' pie tins that rusted out which I use to put the molds in just incase the seal gives way and they leak. A friend puts crushed ice in her's so any leaks stop really fast. Other people have been known to use sand but I dont have sandy soil here.

Grin, I don't want to get too OT here so that's most of what I have to say unless you have any specific questions?

Reply to
cshenk

clipped

My mom used to make candles by pouring melted wax over chopped ice. My brother and I decided to experiment and reverse the procedure by dropping chopped ice into hot, melted wax on the kitchen stove. NOT a good idea....we withdrew when it started boiling violently, just before it exploded all over the kitchen wall and ceiling :o) We were curious but cute :o)

Reply to
norminn

I suppose that would depend upon *why* you are remelting the candles. If it's only for the purpose of emergency lighting, then yes, it's probably not worthwhile. But candlemaking as a hobby can be an art form--there is no limit to what you can make other than the creativity of the individual.

I used to teach arts and crafts and we did candlemaking once a week. Never had an incident.

Reply to
Ulysses

So, the other poster doesn't take the time and bother to remelt. And you do, that's fine.

I've found some of the bigger candles from Dollar Tree, when I cut them with a knife, they look like a porous air fluff kind of construction.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Can you rewrite that in a positive voice, so we will know what to do? All you wrote, is a big list of prohibitions. The first part is fine, but the "don't" get pretty thick after that.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

"Stormin Mormon" wrote

It's a fun and useful little hobby. Thats all, but when the lights went out for 5 days in 2000 (Hurricane Bonnie, not noted for much except the Virginia Beach hit just as it sped back to Cat 1 and only for power line damage). We dont have a generator.

Had candles galore and enough to play backgammon and such or read a book at night. Got a coleman oil lamp to suppliment it.

Thats exactly what they are, and with additives so they neither burn well, nor remelt well. I don't know if they have any special safety factors with that type, but I do not bother with them after the first time someone gifted me with one.

Reply to
cshenk

"Stormin Mormon" wrote

Grin, sorry. The origional person seemed unsure and didnt want him to clog his pipes up. Below is a little better! Got it down to just one set and best to leave that one in there as new to the hobby folks do mess that one up all the time.

Reply to
cshenk

I rather enjoy remelting. Thanks for the head up, the DT ones don't remelt. Since candles are dangerous, my backup lighting is battery "closet lights" from walmrt. And I do have a couple wick style oil lamps.

There is internet legend going around about using mineral spirits paint thinner in oil lamps. I fell for this, and lucky didn't have any trouble. Some lamps, the tank heats up. The fire goes critical, and some lamps have literally exploded when they over heat. So, use ultra pure, or keroesene. I've tried "baby oil" and that works fine, also.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

The only way we leave a burning candle unattended is in a metal candle holder in the wash basin of our windowless bathroom, during the very occasional power outages here. Have never had a problem; but, if the candle were to fall out of the holder, burn down and possibly set fire to a puddle of wax etc. it would be confined to the metal wash basin. There is a large mirror above our wash basin vanity which helps to reflect light up and around the bathroom. Votive candles by their very nature are designed to burn weakly for a long time, not give light. Although many of them on say an altar can be quite dramatic. We had a short failure today which our local power company restored with their usual efficiency. So out for only about 20 minutes. Thought it was high winds. But some idiot had run into a power pole in broad daylight!

Reply to
stan

I think you're right, about the candle within the metal basin. Safety is a good thing. You also need to consider if other things (papers or cloth) can get bumped, and land onto the candle and light up.

One of these days, I'll remelt some of those votives. I've got some commercially made wick material that might work better.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Using some natural color paraffin, and a couple cinnamon votives. I pulled some of the thinner wick out of the candles. Pull the sticker off the bottom, and the wick slides right out. Slip in the larger wicks I got from Ebay. Now, the flame is about an inch high, and puts out useful light.

With votive holder glass from the dollar store, I can put a votive in, with the larger wick. Pour paraffin around, and that makes a "cup candle" which is much better light than a votive. Since it's in a glass container, it makes a puddle of wax, and burns until it's out. Unlike slim tapers, which burn and drip.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

What I've done when I want to read by a candle is to use aluminum foil and try to fashion a crude spherical or parabolic reflector out of it.

Real wrinkly, yes, and the shape is crude indeed, but it works! Doubles or triples the amount of light that hits the page.

David

Reply to
David Combs

I do believe you've reinvented the pie pan.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.