Crazy holiday gift idea already! - Page 3

[sarasprings]

farmer mama - You make me miss Seattle .

I would like to know a good online source for wool!

[joyfulheart]

Originally posted by farmer mama
"Most natural food stores carry beeswax. The Bees Knees in Snohomish sells nice wax from the owner's bees and candle making supplies."

~I will check into this!

"I could give some wax but we don't have a lot. We make are yearly candles in early fall after the honey harvest, and give out wax to my herbally inclined friends, so ours is pretty used up."

~You are so thoughtful. I will just find a source in the area!

"Are we just doing candles or do we need to post a kids craft?"
~???

"If so I can post directions for felted balls, as it is something to do with the kids. For this you need wool of any color or colors and some sort of soap (dishsoap works fine). In Seattle the store the Weaving Works in the Unversity district has nice carded wool of many colors and natural as well."
~I love this store!! It is just a couple doors down from Choco Canyon, a raw juice/food bar and The Flying Apron vegan bakery.

[Greaseball]

What I've been looking for is an online candle supply store that doesn't charge outrageous shipping prices. Usually the shipping costs about as much as the order, at the sites I've found. We have a craft store in town but the candle aisle is really small.

[Lou]

greaseball- i noticed that you're in oregon. Eugene has a great beeswax & candle making supplier at Glory Bee Foods....
www.glorybeefoods.com
i used to order beeswax from Dadant- www.dadant.com .. they have distribution centers in several sites across the USA so the shipping rates were pretty reasonable...

for dipping cans, i always go to goodwill and find something tall & thin. olive oil tins work real well. don't forget that you need to have enough beeswax to go up to the top of the can you're using to dip the candles in- and to keep it to that height til you're done. you could get some little votive molds for the remaining melted wax that's not tall enough to continue dipping candles.

also- when you buy wicks, buy them a bit thicker than what is usually suggested for paraffin candles. that was a problem for me before-

[mountain mom]

Have we selected a start date for the candle project? Or do we basically just try to accomplish this project in April. Sometimes I am too much about the details....:

[OTMomma]

I want to join in too! I've done other types of candles but never dipped ones. And I love the craft a month idea. Very cool!

[joyfulheart]

Originally posted by mountain mom
Have we selected a start date for the candle project? Or do we basically just try to accomplish this project in April. Sometimes I am too much about the details....:

My idea was just to post the directions and let everyone go at their own pace, posting questions along the way -- advice, tips, etc.

And, I should also mention that for those of you who don't want to do dipped candles and want something simple to do with your children, you can buy beeswax sheets and wicks. All you do is cut the sheet to the size candle you want, lay a wick to one side of the sheet and roll it up! Viola! You have a candle.

[Greaseball]

How much wax would be needed to fill a juice can?

[Lou]

regarding the wax needed to fill a juice can... i think i'd have four-five pounds of wax, just to be on the safe side. what do you think, everybody?

in the book- The Children's Year- there's a great craft idea for Easter candles, making wee candles in blown out eggs. i'm planning to make some for easter with my left over candle ends.. but it'd be a great way to use up the melted wax that's not gonna be tall enough to dip candles, if you guys planned to make candles before easter. let me know if anybody is interested in this and i can post the instructions.

[mom2kbeth]

Originally posted by Lou
regarding the wax needed to fill a juice can... i think i'd have four-five pounds of wax, just to be on the safe side. what do you think, everybody?

in the book- The Children's Year- there's a great craft idea for Easter candles, making wee candles in blown out eggs. i'm planning to make some for easter with my left over candle ends.. but it'd be a great way to use up the melted wax that's not gonna be tall enough to dip candles, if you guys planned to make candles before easter. let me know if anybody is interested in this and i can post the instructions.

I have GOT to get that book!!! That project sounds great! I will have to do this with dd - she'll love it (and so will I!) I'd love it if you could post the directions. Thanks a lot

[Greaseball]

I've also seen instructions for an egg candle, but it looks really delicate. You take several dyed egg halves and glue them in a pyramid shape. Then you fill all the eggs with bead wax and stick a wick in the top egg.

[Lou]

instructions for egg candles

posting the instructions for easter egg candles-

blow out eggs, and carefully enlarge the hole at the bottom of the egg to about 2 1/2 cm (1") diameter. use nail scissors. wash the egg, dry it, and oil the inside of the egg very thoroughly with a small paintbrush.

melt wax in a container in boiling water... dip 8 cm (3") candlewick in hot wax & pull thru while it is still soft. thread wick thru both holes in the egg and seal small hole by putting plasticine around the wick. line eggcup with alum foil and stand the egg in it (large hole in top). slowly pour wax in the egg, holding wick in middle. fill up to top slowly, keep wick in place with two matches as the wax sets... about 15 minutes.
after 15 minutes, check to see if a well has appeared around the wick. break the surface skin of wax with skewer and top up with more wax. topping up may need to be reapeated, as wax shrinks as it cools. when wax has finally cooled and set (after few hrs or overnite), crack eggshell and remove it. trim wick and level base of candle.

can decorate candle with transfers or glue small, pressed flowers all around the sides.

i'll post after i do mine, which should be sometime next weekend....

[farmer mama]

Thanks for the candle idea, I love the Children's Year! Do you have the egg blower tool? It makes blowing eggs really easy.

[Lou]

tell me more about the egg blower tool! i've actually never tried blowing eggs! this year will be my first.

[mom2kbeth]

I've never seen an egg blowing tool. I've been blowing eggs for decorating for a quite few years and dd was able to do them with me last year (she was 2 1/2). I just use a push pin on room temperature eggs, then break up the yolk with a bamboo skewer before blowing. Even dd was able to blow them this way last year. She thought it was pretty cool! Gross, but cool!

[joyfulheart]

Originally posted by mom2kbeth
I just use a push pin on room temperature eggs, then break up the yolk with a bamboo skewer before blowing.

That is exactly what I do. I cannot stand putting my lips on the egg, though!!!

[farmer mama]

I had always blown them myself and but it seemed pretty time consuming and I would break some eggs. Also, you have to make two holes. This tool is made in Germany and called "Blas-Fix". I got mine from the Nova natural toy catalog but I think they are in others. It comes with something to easily punch/screw a hole in the egg, them you put a small needle-like tube with a tiny hand pump connected to it in the hole and pump air into it and the insides get pushed out the same hole. Then you can fill the pump with water so you can rinse out the inside of your egg. The whole proceedure takes less than a minute. We do a lot of eggs for the kids to paint for the easter tree, to hang out side, and also after doing pysanky. Hope that makes sense, doing it the old way is fun too.

[quest4quiet]

Hello! I would very much like to take part in this. It's a great idea and sounds like such fun. I have a suggestion for blowing eggs. I use a nasal aspirator (booger snatcher lol). It works really well. Off to find supplies!!

[Greaseball]

Well, I made my candles yesterday. They came out kind of funny-looking. The wax got a little wrinkled, and they aren't perfectly straight. They are also fatter and shorter than other dipped candles. So I will try decorating them with candle paint and see if that hides some of the imperfections.

[joyfulheart]

Hello All,

I was out of town most of April and just got back. I am wondering how everyone is doing with their candle making? Has anyone besides Greaseball made any??

As soon as I unpack and play outside (I've missed my plants and garden!), I plan to make my candles.

Greaseball -- I've never heard of candle paint!

joyfulheart

(What should we do for May??)

Wait, I just read over this thread, and I don't think there are directions for dipping candles! Is anyone still interested in the directions??