As a
tapered candle is made, there is a period
when they are warm and soft and it is not difficult to work this into
other shapes. If a candle is too hard, it can be softened by
dipping into hot wax (160F) for about three seconds. After dipping,
one must wait about 30 seconds for the wax to be cool enough to work
without being burnt. Wax does not stick to water - this can help
keep the wax off of things that one would normally not want the wax
to stick to (such as
hands,
rolling pins, and
work area).
Occasionally you've seen these long flat candles that have been
twisted and wonder how they've been made - well, here's your chance.
- Having created a new tapered candle and it is
still warm, roll it flat with a rolling pin leaving about an inch
at the bottom normal so that it can fit in a candle holder.
- If the candle cracks while it is being rolled, then it has
become too cool and hard. It can be softened again by dipping it
in some wax at 160F and waiting about half a minute for the wax to cool.
- Hold the candle upside down with the unrolled base at the top in
one hand, and the flattened part of the base between thumb and first
finger of the other hand.
- Pull candle upwards slowly, sliding it between thumb and finger
and turning the candle slowly. If wax gets too cool, an electric
hair dryer can help soften spots.
- Trim the base flat, and let cool for one hour.
A more exaggerated twist can be obtained by repeating step 3.
Another popular form of candles is that of a fin coming off to
the side and spiraling around. This process is a bit more involved
than the modification of a warm dipped candle.
- Gather following equipment:
- Double boiler
- Thermometer
- Template - a triangular piece of plywood with sanded edges approx
10" x 4" x 11". A wire should be attached to a corner for use in dipping.
- Two tall dipping cans large enough to hold the template (above)
- Wax (lots - it has to fill the cans)
- Dye (two different colors is best - call them pink and black)
- Wick (2x 12" length of 1/2" wick)
- Soak the template in water for 30 min
- Heat half of wax to 160F, prime the wicks (dip them once to make
sure the air is out and make them more sturdy), and add pink color of
dye.
- Heat other half of wax to 160F and add black dye
- Remove template from water and shake off excess.
- Dip template in pink wax and wait 1 minute. Repeat 5 times.
- Dip template in black wax and wait one minute. Repeat 5 times.
- Once wax becomes rubbery, peel the wax from the template.
- Place one wax triangle pink side up, turn back the longest edge.
- Lay wick along longest edge
- Fold edge over wax and then roll into a tight tube.
- While rolling, turn the top edge out with a finger and smooth against the base.
- Flatten base, and repeat for the wax on the other side of the template.
While this type of candle can be done with a single color, it is
much more visually pleasing with two colors that contrast (such as
pink and black).