Winter Candles From Candle Scraps

I had a couple of old candles at home, and they were taking up space without any use, so, I decided to change that. I saw a couple of posts on Pinterest showing pictures of reused candles. They always seem so cozy and give this warm ambience to any room, and since I have a huge obsession for candles, and store-bought ones were pretty expensive, I tried to make myself some candles based on what I saw online. I've never made candles before, so this is a first for me. But despite all the odds (not having any actual candle jars, wicks, etc,) they turned out really cute, and you can make them too!

• Old Candles
• (Cotton) Yarn Ball
• Bowls/Jars for the candle (Must be heatproof, otherwise it'll start a fire)
• Spoon
• Popsicle Sticks
• Pot
• Scissors
• Color (Optional)
• Scented Essential Oils (Optional)

I know that I already mentioned my supplies, but, I think adding the picture will give a better idea of what I am using. So, I added the image above. Oh, and also, I won't need everything in the image, but I was prepared just in case; you can never get too c

I know that candle wicks can be bought, but I wanted to make everything (but the candle mixture, haha) at home. Start with yarn. The amount that you need depends on how long you need your wicks to be. I didn't have cotton fabric yarn, so I had to use synthetic material yarn. The reason for using cotton is: Cotton is more resistant to fire than synthetic materials, as synthetic materials burn much faster. Anyways, the best way to go is to cut off about 20 inches or more of the yarn, and then set it aside. Next, put your old candles into your pot, and carefully (without getting any water into your old candles), fill up your pot until half of your candles are submerged. Let it simmer in the water for 5-7 minutes. Next, take the candles out and pour the water out of the pot. With your spoon, scoop out about 4-5 heaping tablespoons into your pot, and melt it until the wax is all melted. If you have candlesticks, cut about 5 inches off of them, melt them in your pot and skip the step of adding water into your pot. Now, add in the yarn into the pot and stir it to coat it in the wax. You want the insides of the yarn to be full of wax too, to make it more resistant to fire. Once you're done coating it in the wax, turn off the heat of your pot, lay it on a clean surface (I used a silicone pan), let it dry, then cut each down to the size of your jar(s). Once you cut them, you are done with this step; move on to step two! (There are only three steps in this entire instructable, and this is the biggest step, the rest are super easy, I promise!)

Now that we are done with our wicks and have set them aside, let's get started on the actual candle itself. To do this, all you have to do is scoop out the rest of your candle and melt it in your pot. While it's melting, let's get to the wicks. Now that they are ready, grab the tip of your wick and tape it onto a popsicle stick. Put the popsicle stick on the mouth of the jar horizontally, and then pour in your melted wax candle mixture. Put these into the fridge for 10-15 minutes to chill them and solidify them quicker. The last step is optional, but if you don't do it, you're all done!

Since my candle jars were made of metal, they'd obviously heat up extensively so I had to make sure that my tables wouldn't burn from the heat of the jars, so I prepared an old plank that I had sitting around from a previous project. (Oh how I LOVE saving scraps)...Anyways, I prepped it by making my own "mod-podge" at home, using white acrylic paint (by the way, the brand doesn't have to be specific) and water. I watered down the acrylic paint until it was almost as thin as water. Say about 3 drops of acrylic paint and 8 tablespoons of water. I then painted it all over the wood plank, luckily, it wasn't too "white-ish", and the wood plank still held its grey colour. I let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then pressed a tissue paper against the wood to get rid of any excess moisture on the top. Finally, I was done, I set my candles on top, and I was so happy with the result!