Candles are not easy

I'm trying to make a candle out of old food containers, and it's not easy. First, I had to figure out that you have to get something to physically hold the wick(s) while the wax cools. Secondly, make sure the aforementioned wicks are made out of ordinary string, instead of some sort of nylon that melts instead of burning. Check this last point BEFORE you start.

Wax melts at about 150 degrees F, and you can get a nice, even consistency at about 200F. It's a real pain to clean dried wax off of stuff.

In a nutshell, I'm going to Michael's tomorrow to pick up some real wicks... and they had better have 'em, because if they don't, that would suck.

My wife made some scented candles in jars. So what kind of food containers did you use? How did it turn out? It is funny how you can think it is going to be so simple to do something only to realize when you start that there are things to do that you didn't consider. Like that wick for instance. I decided a while back that I wanted to make some beer. And I learned how and it turned out good and I made a lot for a while and then lost interest because there is a lot more to home brewing than one might think. That and it is very fattening.

I'm using a soda can with the top cut off.

My best friend is attending chef school (California Culinary Academy), and he was very excited to learn about beer brewing. I think he has a 5-gallon bucket of something fermenting behind his couch.

My best friend is attending chef school (California Culinary Academy), and he was very excited to learn about beer brewing. I think he has a 5-gallon bucket of something fermenting behind his couch. [/quote]

Well, warn him that homeade beer is very fattening. For many years you could actually make better beer on your stove than you could buy at the store. At least here in Alabama. Now, California would have been a different story. People there have always had beer from everywhere. I started brewing because I had to go to Atlanta (about 100 miles away) to find anything more interesting than Whitbread Ale. That is not a snipe at Whitbread either. I like Whitbread Ale, I like the liqiud yeast too. Now you can't even find Whitbread around here but the selection is much better than when I learned to Brew. I started in about 1988 and stopped making it when I had to start taking meds for arthritis in 2004. Don't need to mix the meds with alcohol. It can make the stomache bleed. I saw an episode of Alton Brown on the food channel the other day and he was making a batch of beer that was very similar to the first batch I ever made. I learned from two books initially and then read a few more over the years. I highly recommend The Complete joy of homebrewing by Charlie Papazian and Brewing quality beers by Byron Burch. These are older books but the info is still great for beginners and I continued to refer to them the whole time I was brewing. Both books are still easy to find. Do what the instructions say and you will make great beer every time. Can't tell you much about making candles though. They are like any other hobby, you can get as involved as you want too. I know a guy that makes them and then carves them into beautiful shapes. I know a couple of sisters that make their own line of scented candles and sell them in their local store. I have bought a couple from all of them.