How to melt wax in jar candle without damaging jar?
I made a jar candle. The wick wasn't stuck tightly enough to the bottom of the jar though and when it was burning the wick drifted over to one side. Now the wick is done and there's lots of wax leftover just on the one side (putting a new wick in doesn't help). So I would like to melt the wax down and put a new wick in the center so I can finish burning it. How can it safely be melted down without damaging the jar? I thought of placing it in a bath of boiling water, but don't want to crack the jar. Any suggestions?
Dorcas2009-03-11T02:59:34Z
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Here's what I do when jar candles are done with and there's still a lot of wax in the jar.
I take a steak knife or paring knife and stick it in the wax and wiggle it back and forth. It's usually pretty easy to break the chunk into smaller pieces so you can turn it upside down and shake them out. Then you can re-melt it with some more wax and start over.
Washing the jar in very hot tap water will get the rest of the wax out. If it's just a little more wax and you don't want to use it again, just pour very hot tap water in the jar and leave it a little while. Then you can get it out with the knife by cutting it into small enough pieces to get through the opening.
I'm not an expert on candle making, but I always do this- When my new home made candle has almost dried/cooled, I stick an ice pick down into the wax around the wick and make holes. Then I pour more wax into it and tap it so the wax will go down around the wick...I think it's called over pouring or second pour. But that is supposed to keep the wick standing up straight as you burn the candle. I think the wick absorbs some of the wax during the first pour.
If your wicks aren't already pre-dipped in wax, that might be the problem I mentioned above. You can also dip your wick in your melted wax, then hold it above the melted wax a minute, then do it again, a few times. Then your wick will already have absorbed it's wax. Then when your candle is dry, if there's no cavity around your wick, you're fine. But if there's a cavity, you need to do like I said before and use an ice pick or a metal skewer to make the holes and fill them.
The boiling water should work fine. If you use the stove and a pot for this, be sure to rig up a method to keep the jar suspended so as to not touch the bottom of the pan. Actually, I would further suggest filling the inside of the jar with water as well, to allow the glass to heat and expand in a much more uniform manor. The wax and the water in the jar shouldn't to too difficult to separate if you want to reuse it.
There are candle burners ( I think that's what they are called) out on the market now. Any candle or gift shop has them. You place a whole jar candle in one & turn it on, it melts the wax & puts the scent out into the room. I use them all the time in place of candles because you don't have to worry if you forget to turn it off, unlike forgetting to blow out a candle. This would work to melt your wax too so you could put a new wick in. Good luck