Chasing Cheerios

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A Failed Activity


We (my mom, the girls, my niece, and I) attempted to make hand-dipped candles during "Laura" Camp. It didn't go very well. I dipped a candle for about an hour, and it looked like a bendaroo! I think we'll use our wax to make beach sand candles...eventually.

5 comments:

  1. Did you cool it in between dips? Either by letting it rest or dipping in cold water.

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  2. did you keep the wax heating the whole time? it might have been too hot and so just kept melting the wax off the wick. Try doing it again but once the wax is melted, take it off the heat source...if it starts to not be straight, you can roll it on the counter and then dip it some more.

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  3. What kind of wax did you use bees wax or Parrafin wax??? Parrafin wax is not suiteable for making the candles you want to make. You need to use beeswax for this type of candle making.

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  4. You need to dip and then it cool for about 30 seconds (or more if it's a hot day), then dip again quickly and repeat. Every few dips, dip it into cool water. I used to work at a historical museum and did this for HOURS to make candles for the house. You can definitely use paraffin (that's what we often used), but beeswax is softer and smells better.

    The problem may have been your wax was too hot or you didn't let it cool enough or you didn't dip it fast enough - you don't want the candles to melt when you dip them!

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  5. Adding to my previous comment - you should have a nice birthday candle after about 5-10 dips! Dipping for an hour to get a bendaroo means you were just melting the wax off each time you dipped.

    Try again!

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