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frugality

Candle frugality

John Polk

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Posts: 7926

Location: Currently in Lake Stevens, WA. Home in Spokane

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posted 13 years ago

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Candles offer a nice, warm homey atmosphere to a dining table, or living room, etc

A simple way to make them burn longer is to freeze them before use.

A friend of our family ran a catering business that specialized in things like banquets (you know - rubber chicken events).
They would buy 'timed' candles (2, 3, 4 hour, etc) based on how long the event was scheduled to last.
Obviously, 2 hour candles were cheapest, and the price went up, depending on longevity.
Why buy $2 candles if $1 candles would do the job?

He would store them in the freezer prior to use. Claimed he could get an extra hour or 2 out of each one.

waylon shannon

Posts: 9

Location: wales

posted 13 years ago

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I'll try this used to make my own candles great fun & cheap but blackened my walls cost more in repainting!

Joe Braxton

Posts: 320

Location: NC (northern piedmont)

posted 13 years ago

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You want to get really frugal? Try sweet gum balls in lard for candles....

BTW - they work remarkable well.

http://books.google.com/books?id=v79huBKyzIsC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=tallow+candle+with+sweet+gum+balls&source=bl&ots=gvfvyRe3nd&sig=9t_6TskGO44JOT2J1FSFyduwGm0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JTYHUaHxBIjc9AT34YCgCA&sqi=2&ved=0CGAQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=tallow%20candle%20with%20sweet%20gum%20balls&f=false

Jocelyn Campbell

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Location: Everett, WA (Western Washington State / Cascadia / Pacific NW)

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posted 13 years ago

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Joe Braxton wrote:You want to get really frugal? Try sweet gum balls in lard for candles....

BTW - they work remarkable well.

http://books.google.com/books?id=v79huBKyzIsC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=tallow+candle+with+sweet+gum+balls&source=bl&ots=gvfvyRe3nd&sig=9t_6TskGO44JOT2J1FSFyduwGm0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JTYHUaHxBIjc9AT34YCgCA&sqi=2&ved=0CGAQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=tallow%20candle%20with%20sweet%20gum%20balls&f=false

"sweet gum balls" made me think of candy gumballs! Of course you didn't mean that, and the eloquent description in your link had me wanting to see more.

Found this pic of the sweet gum balls but would love to see them lit in lard or tallow - it sounds beautiful!

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r ransom

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Location: Left Coast Canada

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posted 2 weeks ago

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Wow, I heard of freezing candles before, but never knew it could make such a difference.

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Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 12891

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

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posted 2 weeks ago

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I've heard that keeping the wick reasonably short and centred, so that it doesn't burn with too large a flame will help the candle last longer.

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Pearl Sutton

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posted 2 weeks ago

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When I was young the church we went to had collars on the candles that kept them burning neatly with no drips or going off balance. I have made them with tinfoil, definitely helps. You have to keep moving it down, but that's not a deal breaker for me, I don't walk away from a burning candle for long.

Somewhere I picked up cheap or free a pack of fondue forks, and I bend one tine down into a little hook, leave the other one straight. Best wick messing with devices I have ever seen. You can push, pull, or fish it the wick up, and build little wax dams to stop off balancing.

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Nancy Reading

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posted 2 weeks ago

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Pearl Sutton wrote:When I was young the church we went to had collars on the candles that kept them burning neatly with no drips or going off balance.

So are those like caps with a hole in for the wick?

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Pearl Sutton

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posted 2 weeks ago

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Hm... I can't find pics of what I saw then. I make my collars fit tight around the shaft of the candle and have a wider part at the top, so it catches drips. Just a quick wrap it around and spread the top before lighting the candle.

Carla Burke

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posted 1 week ago

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Yup - they look like a cap on top of the candle, and they're roughly 2 -3 inches tall. (Our church uses them). I'll check into this concept, but I had always thought they just made them burn more uniformly, and made them look nicer than wonky candle tops.

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Nancy Reading

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posted 1 week ago

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Carla Burke wrote:I had always thought they just made them burn more uniformly, and made them look nicer than wonky candle tops.

I think that the burning evenly also helps to make the candle burn more slowly. I guess it makes sense; if the wax is all being burnt (it's that that gives the flame) rather than melting down the sides.

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