Making New Candles From Old

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If your home is anything like mine, you likely have a bag filled with the ends of old or broken candles. Did you know you can make new candles from old candles easily in just a few steps? This is a great way to reuse candles and containers and create something new and useful around your home.

What you need to make New Candles from Old

You can either make tapered candles or candles inside a container. No matter what type of candle you make, you will need:

  • Old candle parts (you can purchase new candle making wax too)
  • Wick Material (see an option to purchase them here)
  • Container to heat the wax in (we used mason jars)
  • Hot water bath
  • Containers (if you are making poured candles – you can use jar or reuse the container the old candles originally came in)

Directions

We started by melting the candles down in reused jars inside a large pot of water.  Be careful when melting old candles that you are using the same kinds of candles (don’t mix the wax type since they can melt at different temperatures) We tried to keep similar colors together, and added more candles until the wax reached the top of the jar.  Ideally you would use a taller, narrow container, since these jars were just tall enough to dip a small candle.

When the wax melts completely, we removed the jars carefully from the water onto a safe surface.  Using the old wicks from the broken candles we started dipping the candles.  After each dip into the wax, we paused for around 5 seconds before dipping the candle again to allow the wax to harden, pausing to hang the candles periodically to completely cool.  If the wax started to harden, we simply returned the jar to the pot until it melted.

VERY, VERY slowly, candles began to form. As the wax cooled, the candles formed faster and became a bit lumpier.  All told, we spent in the one evening we worked on this we dipped around 8 small candles.  The next morning we reheated the wax with the kids and poured small candles into old cups and jars. 

Although we didn’t make many candles, those candles we did make are soft looking and beautiful and will serve as the centerpiece of this year’s holiday celebrations.  As we move into winter and the light fades outside, these lights will illuminate our homes, giving us peace and a much greater appreciation for those people before us who relied on making their own candles to light their way.

9 thoughts on “Making New Candles From Old”

  1. If you take your fresh made candles and freeze them for 12-24 hours they will burn aLOT slower and last a lot longer. This even works for exending the burn life of cheap store candles. Whenever I buy candles, into the freezer they go. Even the ones in the glass jars!

  2. Wow, super cool! My question is how did you retrieve the old wicks out of the wax to make the new dipped candles?

    On the topic of freezing candles, that is what I do to remove wax from candle holders or jars. Into the freezer it goes to shrink the wax and separate it from the container, then I can easily store it for recycling 🙂

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