Easiest Candle Making Technique Ever!

I love, love, love making candles!  It's one of the funnest and easiest crafts that I know of.  I mean, how can you go wrong?  Just melt a bit of candle wax, position your wick, add whatever colors or scents you like (crayons and essential oils or even perfume will work just fine), pour the whole thing together, and wait 'til it's firm.  I've been making my own candles since the 1990s and just love the entire process.  It makes me feel so creative and clever to use up my leftover waxes this way!  I also get the added satisfaction of knowing that my candle is unique; no one has quite the same color or scent that I do!

That said, pouring candles can be a real pain in the ass if you don't get it right.  The wax can form ugly lumps and bumps, you can find bubbles inside that compromise the burning smoothness, and sometimes the best-laid shapes will go awry.  And long, skinny candles -- well, forget pouring those!  Dipping takes too long (though admittedly, I have not tried it very thoroughly: maybe I'll do it sometime).

If you're a first-timer or you're in the market for an easy candle project, you can buy yourself some rolls of beeswax at your local craft store.  They also come in candle-making kits that couldn't be simpler.  Place your wick on one side of the wax sheet, roll it up, and Bob's your uncle.  It's lovely and takes only a few minutes.

In the same spirit as the roll-your-own-beeswax candle, I have created a terribly easy candle recipe that would make any star of the most recent episode of "Hoarders" stand and applaud vigorously. ;)

INGREDIENTS:
* Something for a wick (natural fiber string, rope, kitchen string, or buy yourself some commercial wick from the craft store.)
* One bag of your favorite wax-covered Laughing Cow cheese. (Bonbel and Babybel Light use red wax, and their Cheddar variety is coated in yellow wax.)

These candles are romantic and decadent,
not at all cheesy! Available in classic Babybel, or Cheddar.

Step 1.  Eat the cheese as you normally would, storing up all of the awesome wax!  Resist the urge to play with the wax... it's hard, but you need to restrain yourself.  Pick the wax apart so that it's in half-circles or anything flat.

Step 2.  [If you're very anal about germs: wash the wax in cold, slightly soapy water. Soak for a bit, rinse, then allow to air dry undisturbed over the course of a few days.  If you don't care about getting cheese particles in your candle -- and trust me, it's not all that much anyway -- read on...]

Step 3.  Cut your wax into strips and wind it around your wick.  After you've made a nice long, tall strip, wind more wax strips around your first coat.  (It is this step where you can rub a bit of scented oil over your wax strips if you like -- I did roses on mine, and now they smell like roses dipped in cheese.)

Step 4.  Repeat until all of your wax is gone, or your candle is sized and shaped the way you want it.

Step 5.  Put in a candleholder (or a glass filled with pretty stones, as shown) and light, enjoying the dark romantic ambience of your super-easy craft!

On My Mind: Spiritual Bath

I just came across this charming post at the simple-living blog "Down To Earth" which encouraged its readers to share a photograph and to explain a bit about it.

The one that I chose was this picture, which I'd recently taken and had been meaning to add to my blog for some time now.  This past year, I had recently discovered how wonderful it was to take a long, luxurious soak in the tub.  One of the awesomest things about taking a big ole' bath is that anyone can do it.  Doesn't matter if you're old, young, rich, or poor -- if you have access to a tub and some water, you can make it an amazingly sensual experience no matter what other accoutrements you choose to add.

There's a joke that goes something like, "You know you're ghetto when you break out your best dish detergent when it's time to take a bubble bath," but really, who cares?  It makes no difference if you bathe with a 3-for-99-cents bar of soap from the dollar tree or a pot of $140 Russian Amber shampoo by Philip B., you can make your tub time truly luxurious with only a few little additions.

I like to add a few candles on the edge of my tub; they need not be expensive (and if you can make your own candles out of leftovers and an old spaghetti jar, so much the better!) but they certainly can lend an air of tranquil pleasure to your bath.  You can even find an artificial candlelight generator app on your Android phone (if you're so blessed), which I've done more than once.  The one I have (which I downloaded for free) even gives you customizable flame colors -- purple flame, anyone?

And bubbles are nice, but not always necessary -- by the way, I recall a few times where my own mother broke out the Ivory or the Palmolive dish liquid when, as a child, I craved bubbles in my bath.  If it's not going to harm your skin, who really cares?  No shame in being creative.  These days, I save my pennies for the luxury of something special from the Lush store when I can get it (and use it carefully).  But even bubbles from your dollar store or local pharmacy will do the trick wonderfully.

Some folks choose to do their entire beauty regimens in the bath -- shaving legs, deep conditioning hair, even wearing a facial masque while splashing away in the tub.  And some people bring a cocktail (or in my case, a nice cold can of soda) into the tub, sipping their cares away.  Or, you can just relax and allow your tension to melt away, enjoying the sights, sounds, and scents of your spiritual bathing experience.  The bottom line is that your bathtime rituals can be fully customizable and specifically tailored to your needs and wants.

So grab your rubber ducky, and your favorite towel, and enjoy!

Swiffer Stuffs

As most people who know me are well aware, I love to make things.  Cooking is one of my true passions for this very reason: It's quick, most endeavors are relatively inexpensive, and the end result can be used in practical, smart ways that don't end up in a lot of clutter.  You eat it, you poop it out, and Bob's your uncle -- creativity recycled!  

I don't like projects that take forever, or that clutter up the house.  As a serious fan of the Swiffer from when it first came out (and yes, I still have the 1999 Swiffer, which is more sturdy than my 2006 version), I've always considered the replacement covers something of a luxury... if I am dusting, I'm not above twisting them over so that the dust-free side can get its share of use as well. ;)  I've also used things like socks and washcloths for covers when wiping floors that need a bit of wet attention -- and for the most part, these have been successful undertakings.

But I've also wanted to try making a cover that was specifically designed JUST for the Swiffer.  And even though I'm capable of knitting only a simple garter stitch, knitting reusable Swiffer covers out of yarn is just about the easiest thing anyone can do.  Here's how! :)

1.  Choose your medium.  You can see from this picture that I used two different kinds of standard acryllic yarn -- the pretty lavender kind was the last of a soft skein of nicer stuff from JoAnn fabrics, and the burgundy was from a 99-cent store in NYC.  Just use whatever you have; after all, it's not a beauty contest if it's just going to be scrubbing the scum around your toilet.

2.  Knit!  Cast on about 33 rows.  (I used this number because it was my age when these pictures were taken... yeah, these sat around awhile!)  Knit a plain ol' garter stitch until you have a rectangle that pretty much covers your Swiffer.  Your mileage may vary, depending on how tightly you make your stitches and on what size needle you like (I used a size 10), but mine are generally somewhere within the neighborhood of 50 and 70 rows.  It is OK if you knit it to be just a tiny bit too small... keeps the cover on even better, in fact.

3.  Take your rectangle, and fold it into thirds.  The Swiffer will fit into the opening between the thirds.

 4.  Stitch the sides together.  Use anything you want -- more yarn, thread, whatever.  (I used a hideous baby-weight rainbow yarn that I have noooooo idea what other uses I can find for it!)  You could probably even glue or staple them, but that seems like a hell of a lot of trouble, and would likely require many goings-over.

5.  Put the business end of your Swiffer into the horizontal opening.  You can punch the cover down into those annoying little tabs if you want, but honestly I never do, and my Swiffer covers never go anywhere.

6.  If you're dusting, flip it over!  If you're washing something hard-core, flip it over! (Unless the dirty item in question is way too nasty to handle.)

7.  Mine are machine-washable (depends on the yarn you use) and durable.  See the lavender ones in this picture?  They were made about 2 years ago, and are just beginning to get old.

You can also use these without the Swiffer, but it's not quite as much fun.