Reclaim Scented Candle Warming Wax for Layered Candles or Fire Starters

My sister in law gave me a mason jar warmer, and I use scented wax tarts or votives in it.  After a week or so (if I am using it regularly) the scent is faint and it is time to dump it and get a new one.  I always feel bad wasting and I have come up with 2 uses for the wax!

Layered Jar Candles & Fire Starters

Both of these make use of other recycled materials.  

Layered Jar Candle

Materials

• melted wax, from your warmer
• smallish glass jar from the recycle bin, mine is a small jelly jar
• candle wick, I try to use at least one votive in the warmer, and I save the wick.  You can also take a piece of 100% cotton string and dip it in the melted wax to make a wick, 
• paper clip, if you are not re-using the votive wick with the metal piece at the bottom, this will be used as a little weight at the bottom of your wick to keep it from floating up.
• thread
• pencil
• paper bag on work surface in case of spills
• scrap of cloth, optional
• decorative string, optional

Tie the end of the thread to the top of the candle wick ( put the paper clip on the end of the wick if there is not a metal piece there already), then place the wick in the jar.  cut the thread off about 3-4 inches above the rim of the jar.  Place the pencil across the top of the jar and tie the thread to it such that the wick stays upright without lifting off of the bottom of the jar.

You are now ready to pour the used wax into the jar.  I tuck my jar in side of a kitchen cabinet while awaiting the next layer of wax.  Continue to layer until there is only bout a 1/4" wick exposed. Now cut off the thread, if you would like to gift it cover it with a scrap of cloth and tie a string around it.

Finished Product

 Fire Starters

Fire Starter in progress

Materials

• melted wax, from your warmer
• paper type egg carton from the recycle bin
• paper,grab non-glossy from recycle bin, best is more paper egg carton 
• Dryer lint works great if youve been drying cotton materials, otherwise paper is fine
• paper bag on work surface in case of spills

Rip the lid off of the egg carton, tear it up into smallish bits and place them in the bottom sections of the egg carton.  Use another egg carton, dryer lint, newspaper or whatever to fill all the sections.  Now you are ready to add the melted wax.  I have started the first two sections above. It will take several cycles of warmer melts to fill them all, so I will leave it in the cabinet in between.

To use simply break apart the sections once filled with wax.  Place them under your little wood bundle and light the egg carton with a match. It will catch easily and stay lit long enough to catch your tinder burning.

Reclaim: Paint and Repair Yakima Car Top Box

A little Paint goes a long ways!

After!

We had been "going to" put struts in our Yakima box for about 5 years to hold it open.  Well it was windy at the mountain last week and its difficult to hold yourself up there whole holding box top up and putting skis in....the wind grabbed the lid and a hinge broke :(

Before: tried everything to remove paint

We have another, larger box that had a crack in the back and Loads of paint all over it.  But it has hinges! So here is the repair tutorial! We started by trying everything to remove the paint.  The magic sponges helped, but could not get into the depths of the textured surface and left a smooth haziness anyways.  Also tried citrus based paint remover, that was not happening either, and the chemical based were not so nice to plastic.

1. Fix crack
2. Make it appear passable
Warning: you need a lot of space and ventilation to use spray paint inside.

Crack: epoxy has been applied and sanded ready for paint

To fix the crack  I am going to use loctite epoxy.  This is a 2 part epoxy for use on plastic, a lot of epoxy doesn't work, even when it says that it will.

Before using the epoxy sand the area and use a degreaser to clean it. I sanded and cleans the whole exterior of the box because it needs to be done for the painting part.

With this epoxy I only waited about two hours to paint.  Now you can see the crack will still be visible if you're looking for it. If I cared, I would wait until tomorrow for the first epoxy to fully cure and then use a 2 part epoxy putty.  I would put this putty over the edges of the crack, wait ANOTHER day, and then I could sand it smooth so the crack would not show.  But as this will be high up on my van, and I want this huge box out of my house, and I want to be skiing, I am just going for decent and water tight.

If you want to keep your Logos you will need to tape over them.  we chose to keep them, they were in good shape, and did not want to have to worry about covering them.  Cutting nice scquare edges on the masking tape made it appear that we had applied Logo stickers!  I suggest using blue painting masking tape and remove as soon as you have finished painting!!  This will give crisp edges.  I was too lazy to go to my sewing room for the blue painters tape and used regular masking tape.  You cannot really notice in the pictures, but a few flecks of the Logo paint were removed with the tape, so just grab a roll at the dollar store.

So now on to painting. I hate VOCs but love spray. The family is freezing right now, as we have all the Windows open.

I used the paint shown below, and it has a primer in it.  I prefer it separate, but I just want this done. Time will tell how it holds up. On the whole I have been very happy with Rustoleum's claims, so charged ahead.

I did a couple thin coats with the first can all the way around twice. Then waited 15 minutes, and put on a few more coats.  One can would have done it off it weren't for that bright paint, so I did about 6 light coats with 2 cans of paint.

I really enjoyed using this paint.  I had one complaint, one out of the two cans and an issue with having a dribble build up as I was spraying.  When it first happened i was above the box and it dripped onto the box, 3  spray layers later I could still see the drip marks.  In this case I am fine with it, I am not looking for perfection, but there are times that would have really irked me.  And i really didn't need to sport black paint on my fingers.

                         

I will let it cure for another day and  then it goes on the van!!!!

After!!!