After the fun of making your candles - comes the not-so-fun part, the candle making cleanup. I try to be one of those folks that cleans up as they make their candles, but that's not always possible when dealing with hot wax, cooling containers, or other candle making techniques that require close attention. So I usually cleanup afterwards. Here are some candle making cleanup tips that I've learned over the years:
- Never never pour the water from your double boiler down the drain. No matter how careful you’ve been, it will have some melted wax in it. This will clog your drain over time.
- This one may seem like a no-brainer, but I’ve heard of it happening, don’t ever pour molten wax down your drain. Pour it into a tray, jar or other small container for later use or disposal.
- Naturally, you've been exceptionally careful with your colorants and fragrances. But tiny spills happen to all of us. Be sure to clean these up right away. Candle colors are very strong and will stain most anything. Fragrance or esesntial oils too can stain, eat into finishes, or at least leave an oily mark behind.
- To clean up wax on smooth, hard surfaces like counters or floors, let it cool and then scrape it up.
- To clean up wax from soft surfaces like carpets or clothing, lay several of layers of paper towel over the spill/stain and iron it with a hot iron. The paper towels should soak up most of the melted wax. You may need to do this several times.
- Put things away in their proper place. If I had a nickel for every time I said "Oh, I'll put that back where it's supposed to go later" and when later came I couldn't find what I needed, I'd be a rich man. Just take the extra few moments to put everything back in its proper place. The next time you wnat to make candles, you'll be thankful.
For an great video demonstration of candle making (and candle burning) cleanup, take a look at the
How to Remove Candle Wax Video
