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Candle Salvage

Candle Salvage published on No Comments on Candle Salvage

Hello again, friends. I’m here with the latest installment of LeEtta’s gonna try something new, and also, making stuff with garbage. Now…picture it: central Florida 2015. A couple has moved into a 1949 block house with original bathrooms and tile floors, and spent their first winter in a house they would later call an icebox. To prepare for the next winter they get a couple more area rugs before turning their attention to the enormous fireplace in their living room.

But, even if the house is chilly during the season that Florida calls winter, it isn’t chilly enough, or chilly for long enough, for a full blown wood crackling fire. So, they outfit their fire place with pillar candles and light them up on the colder nights. Eventually they burn through 6 to or more a season.

And this is where I got really sick of tossing candle bottoms. I am sad to say I tossed a few before I cried fowl and started collecting them with the intent to reuse them somehow. Searching online I found no shortage of people doing the same. Around the same time I inherited a good deal of my grandmother’s craft stash which included a bag full of wicks. The planets had aligned.

Full confession, this year is not the first year I have tried this; it is the second. But it is the first year I felt like I had some tricks up my sleeve to share with you.

I am only extravagant enough to have purchased one mold, so I washed and saved up creamer containers as well.
I have been adding to this bag, without really taking away from it, for a couple years.
Other supplies: the wicks, and various materials to hold them straight.
During the pouring.
Chopsticks come in handy for removing charred bits and wick ends.
Cooling after pouring.
The final product.

My first trick was, of course, saving more trash in order to help with this process. I only bought one pillar candle mold from the store. I didn’t really want more, and I especially didn’t want to find a place to keep any more. So, I saved up some half ‘n half, heavy cream, and salt containers of both plastic and cardboard variety.

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Upcycle crafting

Upcycle crafting published on No Comments on Upcycle crafting

You may have noticed the uptick in crafty blogging lately. I did a whole bunch of making prior to the holidays. Some of the the makes were for gifts and some were for decoration. I really enjoyed myself and I feel like I am returning to a more makery me. Crafty posts may continue.

I was gifted a glass bottle cutting kit at the end of 2020 and the two first crafts I wanted to tackle were bottle bottom candles and bottle chimes. I had bought a bottle chime for our house a while ago. It has a chain running through it from the hanging ring through the clapper and down to the wind catch. I also scoped out some tutorials online that used hot clue and rope, but in the end, used the bottle chime I had as a pattern.

I knew rope and glue wouldn’t make it through a Florida summer. Florida summers have even eaten through the small gauge chain in a lot of my store bought windchimes, contributing to a pile of chimes that I have to repair. Given that the glass would shatter if the rope/chain breaks, I thought it would be better to be hefty than dainty.

I used large wooden beads as the stopper inside that holds the bottle at the right height and the clapper. The beads are attached to the chain pieces with heavy gauge craft wire. For the hanging loop, I used some keyrings that I had on hand. I am pretty happy with the results.

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