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Permies Poll - Have you made candles before?

posted 1 year ago

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Another entry into the Permies Poll pool comes to us from the more crafty side of the spectrum. Have you or do you currently make candles?

Comment below your thoughts. Bonus points for pictures of your creations!

Do you have interest in making candles? What kind have you made? Decorative or functional?

COMMENTS:

Timothy Norton

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Location: Upstate New York, Zone 5b, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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posted 1 year ago

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I have not made candles before, but I do have interest in casting some decorative beeswax ones.

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Pearl Sutton

steward & bricolagier

Posts: 15675

Location: SW Missouri

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posted 1 year ago

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Yes. I make useful ones, no scent, as I can't tolerate it. I pour them multi-wicked into glass jars with tops so they stay dry, for emergency light and heat.

I have also made the cardboard spiral wax things that we made in girl scouts for cooking

I pour them in tuna sized cans, and change the amount of cardboard to make them burn hotter or cooler, and last shorter or longer. They fit in a sterno stove nicely.

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Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 1 year ago

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We made a lot of dipped candles for light to use along with our kerosine lamps years ago.
Using what we had, we braided cotton string and melted down every old candle we could get our hands on.

We learned a lot about size of wick to candle size and had many many smokey ones until we got it right.

We had metal oil tins set in a kettle of water on the wood stove and could adjust the melt pretty easily. No pictures at all...we just did stuff and didn't keep records.

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Christopher Weeks

master gardener

Posts: 5377

Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods

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posted 1 year ago

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I first made dipped candles at a Lake of the Ozarks amusement park called Fort of the Osage that's been closed for something like 40 years. :)

As a young parent, pouring melted wax candles in tin cans and declivities in the sandbox from old garage sale candles and crayons was always a hit with the kids -- one of whom has gone on to buy actual candle-making equipment from craft stores and second-hand shops and does it semi-regularly as a hobby.

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Carla Burke

Rusticator

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Location: Missouri Ozarks

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posted 1 year ago

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Yup! Mom went through a candle making phase, when I was a kid, and taught me - the weirder the candles, the better she liked them, so we did sand candles, ice candles, molded and canister candles, in the full spectrum of colors.

As an adult, I've rolled beeswax candles; emergency ones in used tuna or soup cans or lidded glass jars - often with a pack of matches tucked inside; fun little ones that looked like ice cream sundaes, in the restaurant sundae type cups, & cupcakes. I even tried my hand at a ridiculously simplified layered one, peeled into loops and curly-ques while still warm from the dipping(major fail, lol). I've used soy, beeswax & parrafin, and blended them a few ways, including with tallow or vegetable shortening.

I've even done the ones like Pearl pictured, with the rolled up cardboard - complete with the tallow/beeswax blend. That works great as a 'sterno' replacement, for cooking/chafing pots, btw.

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Jay Angler

steward

Posts: 14258

Location: Pacific Wet Coast

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posted 1 year ago

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I went through the decorative candle stage along with my sisters. Problem is that we never did figure out that wick/candle ratio was a thing, and there weren't any convenient Wisdom Carriers in suburbia such as Judith had access to. Now my household is just far too dependent on the convenience of battery headlamps to mess with candles, and I do get concerned about air quality. Too many other pressing issues to work on to mess with candles. If the Cascadian Subduction lets go, candles will be the least of our worries! Some sort of low tech, easy to assemble on whatever land isn't covered in downed trees shelter, is higher on my list. Something along the lines of the Medieval Market hoop tent?

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J Garlits

gardener

Posts: 514

Location: Wabash, Indiana, Zone 6a

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posted 1 year ago

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The family and I made some "pour into a jar" scented candles before. No more than melting blocks of wax, adding the scent and color, stirring, and pouring. We did get some soy wax one time and it was nice to work with. I liked it better than regular candle wax, which is a petrochemical.

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Riona Abhainn

pollinator

Posts: 1281

Location: Milwaukie Oregon, USA zone 8b

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posted 1 year ago

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I haven't and its not on my to-do list of things to try, but we enjoy buying them from local artisans and burning them at home periodically. I'm surprised my MIL doesn't make her own.

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John F Dean

master steward

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Location: southern Illinois, USA

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posted 1 year ago

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I made a 7 wick one for cooking in an emergency. I was a helper involved on cleaning out an attic and stumbled on maybe 50 pounds of wax that was given to me. I used an old plastic coffee can as a mold.

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Tereza Okava

steward & manure connoisseur

Posts: 4689

Location: South of Capricorn

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posted 1 year ago

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as a kid (maybe a scout?) we made dipped candles. as an adult i now suspected the adults just needed the kids occupied for a long time.
i've since made candles from beeswax and recovered wax.

Timothy Norton

Steward of piddlers

Posts: 6739

Location: Upstate New York, Zone 5b, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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posted 1 year ago

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I realize that I might have everything I would need besides an appropriate wick to make beeswax candles.

Maybe a rainy day project!

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 11619

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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posted 3 months ago

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Oh, I haven't made candles since I was a child! Such fun though. Like Carla we made all sorts of candles. I can't remember ice candles though. I think I liked the sand ones the best! I have a collection of candles in case of powercuts, they do make you appreciate electric light more though!

We also have a large citronella candle to clear the room of midges which we use occasionally when the dogs brig them in.

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