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Posted By: Tracy - Yoga Recycling Old Candles - 02/05/13 09:37 AM
Hi Angie,

Just discovered the joys of candle making. Read some of your articles - very helpful smile

I'm wondering about old candles and recylcing them - can they be melted down and re-moulded? I saw someone doing chunking - would it be best to use recycled wax in that way?

Many thanks,
Tracy
Posted By: Dianne W - Editor Re: Recycling Old Candles - 02/05/13 09:46 AM
That's a great question Tracy, I would love to know how to recycle old candles as well!
Posted By: Tracy - Yoga Re: Recycling Old Candles - 02/05/13 10:28 AM
Thanks Dianne smile

I'm not sure if the quality of recycled candles is good enough to sell or whether it's best to use them in other ways.

Getting involved with beekeeping and will hopefully have enough wax to use for a small amount of candle making along with other waxes. Recycling/reusing is close to my heart and using what is available always appeals - must be the Scot in me!
Posted By: Angie's Candles Re: Recycling Old Candles - 02/05/13 06:24 PM
Hello Ladies - I really only use my old used candles for things like fire starters. However, if you don't make fire starters and if you have old pillar candles or votives, you could always break them up and use pieces in a wax tart warmer. Old container candles can be placed on small warming trays to get them melting and to use up every last bit of your fragrant wax. In the past, I have placed my larger container candles in the oven (on a pan) on the lowest temperature setting to let the wax fully melt. Once it's melted you just fish out the old wick and replace it with a new tabbed wick by carefully placing it in the center and keeping it standing there with a pencil or chopstick until it is cooled. This works great for those container candles that have only burned down the middle and left a lot of wax on the edges.

As far as remaking candles with used bits and stubs, I myself wouldn't want to sell them. Mostly because I believe you shouldn't sell candles that you haven't thoroughly tested. Used candles have probably lost some of their scent and may have bits of old burned wick in them so you lose a little quality there. Furthermore, what if your candle turns out so perfect that your customer wants to order more? You probably wouldn’t have an accurate way of recreating that candle.

Nevertheless, candle makers themselves can use recycled candles all over their house. I know I’m always burning some sort of candle scraps, experiments, and definitely my flops.
Posted By: Tracy - Yoga Re: Recycling Old Candles - 02/06/13 08:07 AM
Hi Angela,

Thanks for your reply smile I'd heard of people using old wax as fire starters - great idea. So good that you are here - will keep an eye on your articles smile
Posted By: ScrapFriends Re: Recycling Old Candles - 09/11/13 08:35 AM
thanks for sharing its really awesome idea of recycling old candles....
Posted By: AKLisa- Knitting Editor Re: Recycling Old Candles - 04/15/14 02:55 AM
I was surprised when I found out how flammable spread out paraffin wax can be. I also had a container candle catch on fire completely once - it was a scary mess.
A firestarter I learned ot make with the girl scouts is made by putting old dryer lint and shredded paper into the wells of an empty used paper egg carton, and then pouring recycled wax from candles, etc., over them. Each individual egg well then becomes a firestarter that works amazingly well.
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