how to…recycle an old candle.

19. September 2012

15 Comments

Interior & Decoration

today i want to show you guys some crafty stuff – how to recycle an old, burned down candle and save a lot of money instead of buying expensive perfumed candles. just make your own! so here is what you will need for this SUPER EASY DIY!
1. some wick (shouldn´t be too short, i bought 4 about 12 cm wicks)
2. preserving jar, water glass, metal bin or any other container for your new candles (i got these cute jar glasses from butlers)
3. scented oil (you get it at any regular drugstore, i chose spruce and lemongrass as flavors)
4. either an old candle that you want to recycle or some new, big and cheap ones that you want to convert into perfumed candles

 i started by chopping my big old candle into pieces.
the bottom of the originally white candle turned grey because of the smut but i really liked that and decided to make three candle tones: grey, white and a mixture of both.
i melted my candle by putting a metal bowl into a bigger pot with boiling water. my recommendation is to take a bowl that you won´t be using much after that because it´s really hard to get it clean again.
when the wax has melted, add a scent of your choice – don´t be afraid of using too much, the scent easily evaporates because of the heat.

in the meantime, cut your wick to the desired length. don´t cut it too short, you will need the length while the candle is hardening. 
when the wax has fully melted, fill it into your containers. after that, add some scent again and repeat it a few times during the hardening process. as for the wick, fix it to a wooden stick with scotch tape or something similar, otherwise you will be standing in front of the candle for an hour, holding the wick straight while the candle is hardening.

i repeated the steps above for each “color” and waited for an hour or so.
be very carefull with filling in the hot wax and do it rather slowly so that the glass won´t break because of the heat.

finish! this is how my candles turned out!
i think this is also a perfect, personal gift – will definitely do this again and try out other scents and bins.
now you can go ahead and have fun making your own scented candles!

COMMENTS

  • Luxx Mint

    These look brilliant and such a good idea. I love the idea of having a personalised scent.

    Luxx Mint

  • Anonymous

    coole idee 🙂 & schöne bilder!
    danke für den post!

  • beautysunshine

    sehr gute idee.

  • CAROLIN.

    Danke für den super guten Post 🙂

  • claude

    what a great idea! thank you for sharing the how to do it yourself guidance!
    I also like the colors you chose to do, perfect for autumn

    xx from Brussels, Claude

  • MarieAntoinette

    Very nice idea, but I don’t think I’m patient enough 😉
    Visit me ♥

  • Laura

    Na das Ergebnis kann sich doch wirklich sehen lassen!

  • Maria

    Super Idee und super gelungen – danke fürs Teilen!
    Werde ich definitiv mal probieren, tolles Mitbringsel und vor allem jetzt für die kältere Jahrszeit spitze!

  • Tamina

    das echt ne tolle idee. kann man für den fall der fälle auf jeden fall im hinterkopf behalten 😉

  • Lara-Elain

    Tolle Idee!! Ich habe immer ziemlich viele Kerzenreste, die man nicht mehr abbrennen kann, gute Idee diese noch zu verwerten. 🙂 Und auch wenn es noch etwas hin ist, das ist eine super Idee für Weihnachten!

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