How to Remove Leftover Wax to Reuse Candle Vessels

Looking for more ways to go green this year? We search high and low to find candle vessels that will look great in your outdoor space so why not reuse them for decoration, small storage, or crafts? We put together this video to show you how to remove any leftover wax from your candle vessels to help get you started! To save you some rewinding, we also put step-by-step instructions below.

Supplies:

• Butter knife
• Tongs
• Hot water
• Goo Gone (optional)

Step 1:

Use the butter knife to break apart the remaining wax in the candle vessel. At this point, you don't need to worry about getting rid of all of the wax that is near the wick off. Focus more on the wax around the edges. If you're having a difficult time breaking the wax apart, you can try sticking the vessel in the freezer for a few hours - the frozen wax is a bit easier to break up. Throw the wax chunks away.

**Pro Tip: The first time that you light a candle, let it burn until the wax pool reaches the edges of the vessel. This helps the candle burn more efficiently, last longer, throw scent better and leave less wax unburned for the rest of its life!

Step 2:

Pour hot water into the empty candle vessels and let it sit for about 5 minutes. This will melt any of the wax around the wick and will help soften the glue holding the wick in place for the next step. After 5 minutes, you can pour out the water in the vessels - but don't pour it down the sink! The leftover wax isn't good for your garbage disposal or drains, so grab an empty jar or can out of the recycle bin and pour the water into it. Then throw the jar or can away.

Step 3: 

Use the tongs to remove the wick from the vessel. In our candles, there's a piece of metal that holds the wick in place that is glued to the bottom of the vessel. Grab onto the metal with a pair of tongs, twist and pull to remove it. If the metal piece comes off but leaves a gob of glue behind, use the tongs to pull the glue off. 

If there's still some stickiness from the glue, you can use the Goo Gone to get rid of it. Goo Gone also works great for removing any stickers or labels left on the candle vessel.

Step 4:

Rinse and repeat! We recommend that you put the empty vessels in the dishwasher or wash by hand one to two times to get any extra wax out. 

That's it! Now you're ready to reuse your candle vessel for something fun! If you're looking for ideas, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or follow us on Instagram or Facebook - we've got some ideas and tutorials coming your way!

Just a reminder in case you missed it in the video, we don't recommend reusing our candle vessels to store food or beverages.

Have you re-used any of our candle vessels? Drop us a note in the comments to share your project, or tag us in a photo on Instagram @patioessentials!