Wonderful Wednesday Tip for Wednesday October 14, 2009

Here is my Wonderful Wednesday Tip for this week...
We have all seen the tall cylinder style candleholders. They usually have a crystalline surface to them and often a picture of some kind. They easily can be gotten very cheaply at rummage sales and flea markets.
The main problem with many of them is that the old candle inside needs to be removed. This done by simply using your hair dryer and aiming it at the candle. DO NOT set the hair dryer inside the holder, the glass can get very hot and possibly crack.
Your candle should get warm and flexible after a few minutes. Take a small spoon (preferable an iced tea or sundae spoon- they have a long handle) and scrape out the warm wax. Repeat the hair dryer, scraping routine a few more times.
A word of advice from my hubby-be careful of the metal wick holders on older candles. They are usually a very sharp large piece of metal sheeting and can cause a very nasty cut. These edges are usually razor sharp so DO NOT allow children to help with this activity.
After you have gotten a large chunk of the candle out of the holder, you can run hot water into the candleholder. Take a butter knife and gently run it between the candle and the holder to loosen it some. Drain the water out. Sometimes this might be all you need to do remove the old candle. If not then let us continue…
Once you have loosened your candle, aim your hair dryer at the loosened candle to help soften it some more. As I said before just repeat the hair dryer, scraping routine a few more times.
By now your should have the vast majority of the old candle out. Just finish by scraping the rest of the candle out and washing the holder.