Stella, May I know how to upcycle candle jars?
Of course you may. This is how I reuse candle jars. These specifically are the Bath and Body Works 14.5 ounce, 3-wick candles. At one point I was pretty obsessed with these candles since they offered some unique scents and the candles were able to perfume the entire room. I would then end up with a lot of empty candle jars. I tried to freeze them to clean out the wax and reuse them like so many pinterest posts suggested, but it just didn't come out as clean. There would be a thin layer of wax left behind. I discovered an even better and less messy way of cleaning them out and that's what I am here to show you today.
All you will need is your empty candle jar and a butter knife. (and hot water and paper towels, not pictured)
First, use the knife to cut out sections of the remaining wax. Try to cut around the wicks. As you cut the sections, the wax will slowly pop out.
To get the wicks off, just gently slide the knife under the metal base. It's a fairly thin piece that is just glued down. When you feel like you have enough leverage then slowly lift up and the wick base should come off.
I usually never end up with that thin of a layer of wax, since the wick stop above the base. So normally the wax would just easily lift up in chunks. But with this thinner layer of wax, it was just not coming off in nice chunks. I just scrape off as much of the wax as I could and move onto the next step.
Peeling off the front label. The label in front is very easy to remove and doesn't leave any residue afterwards. (This was a Sandalwood Citrus candle).
Next fill the jar with hot tap water and let it sit for a minute.
Dump out the water and using a paper towel, wipe down the sides of the jar. Repeat filling it with water and wiping it down until you no longer have the wax residue. This is by far the best method of me to clean out the jars. All the wax removed stays on the towel and not on a sponge or the sink or your hands.
I usually only need one towel to clean out the jars, but because I had a thinner layer of wax remaining, there was more wax so I used about 3 towels.
Those three little circles of residue left is just glue from the wicks. This is best removed with Goo Gone or an oil. You might be thinking: why don't I just use Goo Gone for the entire process? Well Goo Gone is messy and I don't need it. It would have taken longer for me to use Goo Gone since I have to apply it to a cotton pad and wipe it down. The method I like to use just involves wiping down! I saved a step!
Side note: I don't normally get the wax on the outside of the jar, but because this candle was extra good and burned to the bottom, the thin wax that was left got to the outside. I just ran the outside of the jar under hot tap water and wiped it down. Good as new!
After all the wiping is done, I just leave it out to dry and we are ready to use it.
Pen storage. My choice of pens are Sharpie pens and Muji pens.
Lip balm storage. I have too many to store in this jar, but I picked out a few to show you. On top are the Alice in Wonderland Collection, the purple striped is the new blackberry nectar visibly soft and the mint green one is the classic sweet mint one. All EOS. Look out for a post soon about my entire EOS lip balm collection!
Bed side necessities. This includes all that I need to sleep. Clockwise from the blue cap: lavender pillow mist, hand cream, hair brush and ties, lips balms, cuticle butter, and the giant unicorn light remote. I think I will go into details about my right before bed routine in another post so also look out for that!
I also use these candle jars for makeup brushes, little trinkets and Oswald toy balls. These particular jars usually comes with lids, which would make it very useful to stack atop one another, or keep little cat paws out. If I had a bath tub, I would store the bath fizzlers individually in these candle jars. That way they could each be on display and the bath bombs wouldn't intermix scents. However the frosted colored glass kinds didn't come with lids. (If you are afraid that the knife will lift the color off, don't be. The color is applied on the outside of the jar. So just be careful when removing the labels,)
I hope you like today's Tutorial Tuesday and come back for a special surprise for April!
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