Recycling Candles to Make Candle Crafts
Everyone who loves candles knows how hard it can be to give up on a candle. Your candle gets short and there is not much more you can do with it. So, instead of throwing it out, let’s take a look at some of the things you can do with the old pieces. There are some fun things you can do to make candle crafts with the old candles you already have. The following are a couple of fun recycled candle craft ideas:
Cookie Cutter Candles
Supplies:
Metal cookie cutters
Play dough or any inexpensive clay
Wick
Wax (you could recycle old candles, as I did, for this project)
Tin can
Popsicle sticks or pencils
Cookie Cutter Candles Instructions:
1. Start by taking a tin can and squeezing the can at one edge to form a spout. Then put your old candle remnants into the can. Get a pot of water boiling, you only need a little bit of water. Then put the can in the water, so the wax will melt.
2. While you're waiting for the wax to melt, take the clay that you have and use a rolling pin to roll it out flat. You want it to be about a 1/2 inch thick and wide enough that you can place your cookie cutter in the middle.
3. Place a cookie cutter in the center of the clay. Press it in but not all the way, you want it to indent the clay but not go all the way through it. Then take a piece of wick and stick it in the middle of the cookie cutter so that the wick sticks in the clay a little.
4. Take your popsicle stick and place it next to the wick so that it will act as a prop to keep the wick up straight. You will remove it once the wax starts to set a little bit, so about 3-5 minutes after pouring the wax in.
5. Pour the wax in the cookie cutter on top of the clay, almost to the top of the metal cookie cutter. If you overflow it, it will be hard to get out of the cookie cutter later, so just be sure that you are under the lip, but close or your candle will be too shallow.
6. Wait for the wax to set. This usually takes about 45 minutes for the average sized cookie cutter.
7. When set, remove the cookie cutter from the clay. This is going to be really easy, it will not stick to your cutter or your wax, so it is easy, easy, easy!
8. Pop the cookie cutter with the wax into the freezer. They should shrink a little and pop right out. It does not take too long, and the results are great.
You can make any sort of shape, make cookie cutter candles for Christmas if you have wax remnants that are green or red. Make them for summer if you have yellows or bright colors. There are lots of things you can do.
Melt old wax and pour it in containers, make a parfait candle by letting layers set before pouring new ones, etc. There are a lot of things you can do with the bits and pieces of candles. So, do not throw candles out when they get short, instead collect them until you have enough remnants to make your own candle crafts. Make jar candles, cookie cutter floating candles, molded candles, and more.