How-To: Freshen Up Candles

Candles warm up your space, but all too often good candles are tossed out in the cold way before they're officially done. Throwing them out is not only a shame, but it's also a waste of money! Instead of trashing your burned-down bougies, freshen them up using this simple trick.

• Step One - Start by gathering your materials. For this project you need an old candle, a birthday candle, an empty votive, a knife or scissors, a pot, and some water.
• Step Two - Bring a pot of water to boil. You'll need enough water so that the wax part of the candle is below the water, but not so much that the water overflows into the top of the glass.
• Step Three - Carefully place your old candle into the hot water. I like to use tongs so that I don't burn myself.
• Step Four - Keep an eye on the candle as it starts to melt. It's a fairly slow process - this candle took about 10 minutes to completely melt. You want almost the entire thing to be liquid. I don't typically melt it all the way to the wick, which makes it easier to fish out.
• Step Five - Once the wax is completely melted, slowly pour it into your empty votive and discard the old wick.
• Step Six - As you wait for the wax to harden, size the birthday candle so that it doesn't stick out too much from the top of the candle. Don't overdo it though; it's OK for the candle to be a little too tall.
• Step Seven - As soon as the wax has hardened slightly and the top of the wax has formed a little film, gently insert the birthday candle into the center of the votive. If it won't stand up straight, hold it in place for a minute or two while the wax hardens a little more. Don't worry if the top of the birthday candle sticks out a bit, it will burn down quickly and you'll never even know it was there.
• Step Eight - Burn, baby, burn - and enjoy giving your old candles new light!