How To Recycle Your Used Candles

It’s a simple three step process: Pour, Set, and Re-Pour

For tealights, you may pour at any time after the wax is melted; no specific wax temperature is required. My favored method for all candles is to wait to pour until I can just begin to see the wax solidifying (congealing) on the inside surface of the pour can. You need a spouted container to pour tealights. You can also use a wood stirring stick or a chopstick for added pouring control to reduce dribbles.

Pour: There are two methods of making the first pour for tealights, Method A is to fill the tealight cup to the rim, and Method B is to fill the tealight cup ¾ full. The choice is yours. Be sure to save about 20% of your melted wax for the second pour you will make after the candles set.

Set: After making the first pour of wax into the tealight cups, let the tealights stand undisturbed while the wax shrinks and they cool completely. It generally takes a tealight anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half to cool completely and shrink as much as it is going too. As the tealights cool, the wax shrinks creating a depression in the center around the wick.

Re-Pour: Re-pour, referred to by candle makers as the “second pour”, happens after the wax in the tealight cups has cooled completely. To make the second pour, re-heat the remaining wax and pour it into the depression of the cooled wax in each tealight cup. Let stand another half hour or so to cool completely.

To check temperature of wax, immerse thermometer in wax, taking care not to let it touch the bottom of the melting pot.

Set: After making the first pour of wax into the votive molds, let the votives stand undisturbed while the wax shrinks and they cool completely. It generally takes a votive about an hour to an hour and a half (my experience is usually no longer than 2 hours, although some people report cool times of up to 4 hours) for the wax in the mold to cool and shrink. As the votive cools in the mold, the wax shrinks creating a depression in the center around the wick.

Re-Pour: Re-pour, referred to by candle makers as the “second pour”, happens after the wax in the votive candle mold has cooled completely. The 2nd pour of a votive candle fills the depression in the center of the candle where the wax has shrunk. To make the second pour for a votive candle, re-heat the remaining wax and pour it into the depression of the cooled wax in the votive candle mold.

The correct level of wax for the 2nd pour of a votive creates the slight lip at the top of a votive.

Wait another hour or so for the candle to completely cool in the votive mold, and then remove the votive from the mold. Before burning the candle, trim the wick to 1/2 " (our pre-tabbed votive wicks generally run a little long, so you will likely need to trim the wick down to 1/2 "before burning your new votive)