Lighting It Up...well, just a little

It's only a matter of time before I start to make soap, people.

I made my first candles ever last week. Well, now that I think about it, there was that time camping (as a kid) that the park service people had activities going. Each kid got a wick, and there were two buckets of melted wax many feet from each other. We all formed a line, dunked our wick, walked to the other bucket, dunked it again, etc., etc. Slowly, ever so slowly, a candle took form. While this sound sort of dull, it was actually a lot of fun. I think they also showed a nature film that night. The seats around the screen were big logs, if I remember correctly. Aaahh, good times.

But I clearly digress. I was taken with my new candle idea when I heard about a local candle store that makes soy wax candles with a million different essential oil scents to chose from. I also noticed that Joann's sells soy wax. So, in an amazing whirl of syncronicity, I got the wax, unburied some cool little jars from under the kitchen sink, and went to work.

The whole process was pretty simple. With a cheap pan from the V.O.A. I made a double boiler to melt the wax on the stove top. After it gets to a certain temperature, you take it off the heat and add your scent. I chose bergamot, because it's the best smell in the whole world. Well, I added and added and added, but it was really hard to tell if I added enough. In the end, the candles aren't very strong, but hopefully I'll have better results with the next set.

I have to say, the trickiest part was getting the wick to stay put while they set up. I eventually had to tie strings to them, then tie the string to the kitchen cabinet knobs. Sheesh. Well, even if they don't smell too strongly, I think they look lovely - which, in this world, as we know, really seems to make up for a lot.