Color Your Candles With Old Crayons
If you have kids, you most likely have plenty of old crayons around the house that are no longer used. Before throwing them out, consider using them to make candles. This can be a great way to turn them into something new and useful again. Most children will love the idea of making candles and enjoy knowing their old crayons were used to make them. Making candles out of crayons can also be a great gift idea.
Make sure your kids know about safety before starting your project. Since the crayons will have to be melted at a high heat, they may not be able to participate in that part of the candle making process. Assure them that there are many other aspects of the candle making that they can be a part of.
To start, gather your supplies. In addition to the crayons, you will need a wax carton. This can be from milk, fabric softener, or orange juice container. You will also need paraffin wax, two full ice cube trays, a double boiler, and white packing string. If you don’t want to use your double boiler, an old coffee can and a saucepan will work just as well.
Trim the top off of the wax carton, leaving it approximately six inches high. Cut the string for the wick at least 8 inches long. You will later trim the wick to fit the holder. To ensure a wick that burns easier, take three pieces and braid them together. Use smaller pieces of string to tie the ends together. The holders for your candles can be anything you desire as long as they are non-flammable. Pretty vases, glasses, and jars work nicely.
Melt about three pounds of paraffin wax in the double boiler or coffee can. To help it melt faster, cut it into small chunks. Melting will take about 15 to 20 minutes. While the wax is melting, peel the papers off of the old crayons. You and your children can choose to separate the colors by lights and darks to have a mix that combines well or you can mix them all together and see what the color ends up being.
For best results, only add the crayons to the wax after it has completely melted. After melthing the crayons and wax, pour the mixture into your candles holders as soon as possible. If you would like to make scented candles, try adding a splash of cinnamon or vanilla to your hot wax mixture.
It is important that the candles be left alone to completely harden. Make sure you have an area where this can be done. It is also important to make sure small children can’t reach them because the wax will stay hot for several hours and can cause serious injuries.
Making candles out of old crayons is a great way to spend the afternoon creating a fun project with your kids!
If You Need Candles, Go For Beeswax
In the wide world of candles, these are the top of the notch. They are also the most expensive candles for very good reason. They are also one of the cleanest candles you are able to find right now.
There are three different candle competitors that beeswax candles are competing with: paraffin candles, soy candles and gel candles. The competition is not as expensive, but then again, it has a lower quality too.
Commercial bee farmers are collecting the wax from the bee hives, and this wax is what we use to make beeswax candles. This beeswax is processed and purified to prepare it for the process of beeswax candle making. Heating the wax in a hot water is what a purification process is all about.
There are scented and unscented varieties, besides the difference beeswax candles have in their form and shape. Because of their great burning characteristics, these candles are considered to be the best there is on the market. Candles like these are emitting a heavy yellow color as well as burining with a warmer flame which makes them different from other candle types.
If you use beeswax candles, you will see that there is only small amount of wax dripping.
This characteristic makes these candles very desirable for use in religious services. You know that many religious institutions use candles on a regular basis, during the services they have daily. Those candles would be a big problem if they were dripping their wax everywhere.
They are using beeswax candles because they do not drip wax, and this is how the problem is solved. One more good news about beeswax candles is that they do not produce a lot of smoke. To tell it in a different way, beeswax candles burn very cleanly. This characteristic makes them desirable candles to burn with children in the home and also generally to protect your family’s respiratory systems.
With these candles you won’t have such problems as bad petroleum smell that you usually get with paraffin candles and you won’t have problems with darks spots on your ceiling or your walls due to the soot.
It is worth to buy these expensive candles that require a lot of labor involved in their manufacturing process, since they are giving a big amount of benefits.