I love to make shot glass candles. Some of the wonderful benefits of making them are that you can recycle old shot glasses and old candles. There is so much in our world that is throw away that having an opportunity to recycle and getting to use items one or more times is one of the best advantages I can think of to making shot glass candles. You don’t even have to own any shot glasses, or candles for that matter.
You are sure to find all sorts of shot glasses at your local thrift store. The same goes with candles, thrift stores almost always have candles that others have either partially used and gotten rid of, or sometimes you can even find brand new ones that have never been used. So, making shot glass candles can save you money as well as give you an opportunity to recycle, oh, and before I forget, they make fantastic gifts!
What you need:
1. Two pans, one of which you aren’t planning on using again except to make candles.
2. Old candles.
3. Shot glasses, make sure you get ones that have the thicker glass. This will ensure you the hot wax doesn’t cause the glass to crack or break.
4. Wicks, wicks that have a zinc core are best.
4. Scissors.
5. A knife.
6. Hot glue gun.
Here is how you can make your own shot glass candles.
Step 1: Put water in one of your pans and set it to boiling.
Step 2: Using your knife (a large one is best) cut up your old candles into pieces. You can get some very nice colors by mixing different colored pieces.
Step 3: Add the pieces of candle to your second container and then put it in the first container that has the boiling water. Make sure that the second container has a higher lip than the first container so the water can’t get inside where the candle pieces are.
Step 4: While the wax is melting, hot glue one end of the wick to the center of your shot glass, and then leave one end of it trailing outside the shot glass. Don’t be concerned if it is a bit long as you will trim it after you have poured the wax, and it has solidified.
Step 5: Once the wax has melted, grab the wick and hold it so that it is centered and use your other hand to pour the melted wax from your second pan into the shot glass until there is about a quarter of an inch left at the top of the shot glass.
Step 6: Move the wick if you need to making sure it is centered after you’re done pouring the wax.
Step 7: When the wax has solidified, trim the wick down to ¼ of an inch. Add any other decorations such as ribbons or whatnot that you might like to.
As you can see making shot glass candles is easy, and they make great gifts as well as being a wonderful way to recycle items that might otherwise get thrown out!
