how to clean out your candle container
Courtney Jones
because we encourage you all you reuse or refill your candle, we get asked about the best way to clean out candle containers all the time! so here are a few of our tips + tricks to help you quickly and easily clean out your used candle vessels.
here is how we do it it our studio in two easy steps:
use a blunt utensil (we use a spoon) to gently break apart the small amount of wax on the bottom of your candle. take care to not hit the sides too hard.
dump pieces in the trash + wipe out with paper towel!
a few more things to remember during this process is that there will ALWAYS be about 1/4”- 1/2” of wax on the bottom of your candle- this is a safety precaution to make sure the flame doesn’t reach the very bottom of your container. you will see a metal wick tab that extinguishes the flame once your candle burns down- this means your candle is gone.
there are some precautions you should take with your candle:
avoid damage to the container when buying, transporting and storing (dropping, clanking against other items, etc.) this could cause small cracks that will expand when heat is applied (ie when you light your candle).
avoid storing your candles in extreme hot or cold temperatures (ie. outside in the car, etc). this can impact how many times you will be able to refill this container as a candle.
avoid using the freezer to remove your wax: this is a trendy way that many people have found to get the last bit of wax out of their container, but it can cause some issues if you plan to refill that candle. if a container with the materials like terrazzo, ceramic, etc go from hot to cold mutliple times, it could cause cracking.
once you sucessfully clean out you can use for so many things- check out our blog post about all the creative things you could come up with!
you can also refill your candle instead of repurposing- check out our refill page to learn more!
