See a Little Light

"Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning"

-William Arthur Ward




For a chilly Sunday afternoon- a project. I made a batch of these vintage tea cup candles for teacher gifts this year (as well as having measured success selling some at one of my holiday shows.)



Here is what you will need:



vintage tea cups-the tea cup in the picture came from my personal collection of great-grandma's china. After years of nagging, my mother (who, incidentally, never entertains) finally gave me the china. Included were far too many of these double-handled cups which I have very little use for. Why not upcycle (another new vocab word for your lexicon) these and make them into candles? If you don't have china at the ready, I found many ultra-cool picks at Arc Valu Village including a vintage "Happy Anniversary" cup and saucer that was promptly snatched up and made into a candle for my parents' anniversary gift. Another good source for minty cups has been local estate sales.



wax- I opted for soy wax which I found at Joanne's Fabrics. Not expensive when purchased with the 40% off coupon clipped out of the Sunday paper. One box of the soy wax chips made approximately 10 candles



wicks- Also found at Joanne's. I purchased the pre-formed wicks with the metal holder thingy on the bottom. Though, for a couple of the deeper cups they ended up being a little short.



scent- Readily available where ever the wax was found, however, I tapped into a stash of oils I'd bought for a diffuser from Bath and Body Works. They worked like a charm. I did a quick check recently, and all of the holiday scents are on clearance right now.



I also picked up a cheap-o sauce pan at the thrift store dedicated to wax melting so that I didn't have to deal with a thorough clean-up of one of my cooking pans. There were microwave directions on the wax, but after applying both methods, I thought the stove-top was easiest.



Now that you have all the parts, the process is a piece of cake: wicks go into cups, wax is melted per box instructions, scent is added, candle is poured. Voila!



I've added a little background music for your listening pleasure today (applicable to today's theme, of course)... enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnNr6lNxvc