On the road...again!!!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek

On Making Candles at Home

Said the walrus to the carpenter, “let us speak of many things; of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.”  Those lines, spoken by the walrus in a Lewis Carrol nursery rhyme, was probably one of those hard-wired gems that stayed with the Footloose Forester from adolescence until today.  It did suggest that simple discourse even between fictitious characters in a book for children can influence us by way of reflection and future, ongoing musings.  “Out, out brief candle”, a short line by William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5; also suggests wax as a minor feature in classical literature.  Wax has been around a very long time, and it has not been entirely eclipsed as an item in our modern homes.

To be sure, there is wide appeal for candles amongst the yuppies, as presumed by the biased Footloose Forester, but people of many religions and in many countries include candles in their ceremonies, whether in public places or in private settings.  Thus it is that such companies like Botanica Candles continue to thrive.  The 30-pack carton of Bahama Breeze candles which was purchased by the Footloose Forester for a single dollar, probably came from a flea market.  But it was the slogan on the sales tag that gave a big hint about the ingredients which will make for somewhat exotic candles you can make at home.  The label said:  Botanica Candles, Natural Oils for Everyday Living: 30 pk tealights…scented candle.

The small candles individually contained in a flame-proof aluminum cup, are convenient to burn in several locations throughout the house and their short burning time makes them easier to manage.  Indeed, the Footloose Forester bought them because he maintains a Buddhist-type alter in his home to pay homage to the ancestors of his late wife, who was raised as a Buddhist.  There are other unscented mini-candles in a drawer below the alter, and a few skeletons of large candles that were somehow abandoned in hand-me down exchanges or left at the put-take shelter of the local public dump.

All of the pre-owned wax that forms the modest stockpile of candle-making raw materials of the Footloose Forester comes in fact, as recycled resources.  Conservation of natural resources?  You betcha!  The clear glass bowls and other candle-safe containers also come from flea markets or yard sales.  But the fun starts when you rework the various waxes and insert them into their new containers, complete with wicks long enough to reach to the bottom of the bowl.

By trial and error, the Footloose Forester has discovered that the default materials of cotton and jute strings make the best wicks, and prepping the wicks is also an issue.

Really clever people may know how to make candles quickly and more efficiently, but the rookie candle maker in the person of the Footloose Forester is more than satisfied by crafting his candles with scissors, scraping knives, and softening up the large lumps of discarded candles at low heat in a kitchen warming oven.  The scissors are for cutting the wicks to size for inserting into the soft or even liquid wax; and for snipping off the excess wick when the wax has cooled sufficiently.  It is most convenient to insert the whole wick into the liquid or soft wax, and then extract the wick with tongs to allow it to become stiff.  Set the wicks aside for later insertion into soft wax which has been introduced into the chosen glass container.  Some people might discover that some other wick materials are better than others, so it pays to experiment to find out.

Only by trial and error again, the Footloose Forester also discovered that the type of wax is important in clean burning of the flame.  Paraffin wax burns steadily and leaves a small amount of clear, colorless residue of liquid wax that can be used to soak untreated wicks.  Henceforth, he will soak wick material in liquid paraffin wax, only.  Purely speculation here, but the presumed empirical evidence is that some commercially produced candles add an unspecified amount of flammable oil that has the effect of keeping the burning wicks a few mm above the surface of the hot, liquified wax.  A taller wick is easier to light.  So, maybe it would be worthwhile to infuse some oil into liquified wax at the outset.  

The last issue in making candles at home, at least in the opinion of the Footloose Forester, is the preferences of scents.  Commercial makers of candles sometimes infuse their candles with aromatic oils and scents, and those ingredients definitely may impact the ultimate satisfaction in burning home-made candles.  And that is why the Footloose Forester chooses to cut fresh mini-candles that are scented, into small chunks and add them to the receptacles containing fully formed and reconstituted candles. Store-boughten scented candles are thus repurposed, and the tiny wicks on a metal base also get saved for future repurposed projects.    

What to do if the wick goes out? Either scrape away a bit of wax from around the base of the exposed wick, or soften the candle in a warmer oven and remove the wick, then insert a fresh, waxed wick in its place.  A wooden stick from a popsicle can be used to open up the hole for a new wick.