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Heirloom Candles

Give new life to inherited glassware by turning these family heirlooms into beautiful candles.

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This is a perfect project for using "orphan" hand-me-down dishes that you have only one or two of -- like antique wine glasses, a sugar bowl without a lid, your grandmother's favorite tea cup, etc. Instead of storing them away out of sight, you can give them new life and usefulness.
Materials:

Glass or ceramic container (wine glass, tea cup, etc.)
Double boiler or wax melting container (available at craft stores)
Wax for making candles (available at craft stores)
Wooden spatula
Cookie thermometer
Color candle chips (available at craft stores)
Scented candle chips, optional
Wire wicks
2 wooden dowels

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Figure A
Steps:

  1. You can use a double boiler or a container that you purchase at a craft store. The craft store containers are nice because they are large and have a pouring spout (figure A).

  2. Turn your stove to a low setting. Cut the wax into chunks and place in melting pot. Heat the wax to 180 degrees.

  3. Add the color chips to the melted wax and stir with a wooden spatula. The chips are small, but they are a very concentrated color.

  4. Turn the temperature down to 175 degrees. Place scented chips into the candle wax at this time and stir well.
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Figure B
Note: This is a perfect project for using "orphan" hand-me-down dishes that you have only one or two of -- like antique wine glasses, a sugar bowl without a lid, your grandmother's favorite tea cup, etc. (figure B). Instead of storing them away out of sight, you can give them new life and usefulness.

  • The wicks have a metal clip at the bottom. Set the wick in the inside middle of your container and place a wooden dowel on each side of the wick. If the dowels don't stay in place, you can wrap the ends with some tape. The dowels hold the wick in place and help keep it nice and straight while pouring the wax.

    Note: If you do not have wooden dowels, you could use pencils or chopsticks.

  • Remove the thermometer from the container of melted wax.
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    Figure C
  • Hold the dowel sticks as you pour the wax into your container (figure C). Once you have poured the wax, make sure your wick is straight.

  • Once the candle wax has set up, clip the wick to 1/4".

    Note: Once you have burned the candle, you can just melt more and use the same container. A good idea is to make several candles out of wine glasses, etc. and use them on a table when you are entertaining.

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