I think we all know by now I'm a firebug, right?

[fufaraw]

I can't do it now because if there's more than one wick lit at a time, OH will whinge and expire from the dread heat, but when he used to work third shift, in the evenings the living room resembled a Shaolin temple (as portrayed by Kung Fu reruns), or perhaps a Police video. We used to make pilgrimmage to the candle factory outlet thrice a year (after Christmas, late spring, and late fall) to stock up--tapers, pillars of all heights and diameters, votives--10hr 10 cents, 14 hour 15 cents per candle, but you had to choose carefully because most of them were scented. You could find packages of 50 unscented tealights for a dollar--that's 2 cents a candle. After the outlet closed, I'd find bags of 50 tealights at the dollar store for a dollar or two.

I learned that changing empty tealight cups for full ones inside votive holders was much easier than removing wax from said votive holders, and though I have a huge stock of votives, I almost exclusively use tealights, any more. Also, if I pop off the aluminum tealight cup and substitute one of the clear plastic ones I saved from used-up tealights, the candlelight through the glass candleholder isn't obscured by the aluminum cup, so that's what I've been doing. Freezing the plastic cup to pop out leftover wax, and popping in a new tealight before using again.

Lately tealights have been made out of whipped parafin, they have a styrofoamy texture, burn down the center in about a half hour, and often have wired wicks, which give off toxic fumes and flash into a larger flame at random, which is dangerous. I've looked everywhere for better quality--even Ikea--without success. I was down to about five tealights, though, and charged OH with bringing home a new bag, which he did.

Reader, they're smooth and solid poured parafin, with a pure cotton (no wires) wick--and they come in clear plastic cups! Pricey, but worth it. We're a hop-skip from the Canadian border, and these are made in Canada, where apparently, they do things right! So I sent His Nibs back to the store today to buy more--he said the display was half-gone since yesterday, and he brought me three more bags. Now, how long do you reckon 200 tealights is going to hold me?

I will retain a handful of the aluminum cups--in a metal candleholder, the plastic can get hot enough to melt, so in those cases I'll use the metal.

Comments

[tabaqui]

Ooh, pretty! :)

I love having candles burning. They used to sell candles at the 'everything for one dollar' store, but for some reason they stopped, which sucks.

If you put a little bit of water in the bottom of a votive holder, and then the votive, when it's burned out, the wax comes out super-easy, since the water holds it away from the glass. It's what i do all the time. You just push down on one edge and it pops up, free.

[fufaraw]

What a simple idea--I'll try it! Thanks.

[meus_venator]

That looks so pretty!

[fufaraw]

::Claps hands excitedly::

Fire!!

[meus_venator]

LOL! Thows matches in the air! * Fire GOOD! * heh!

[epiphyta]

Glowy!

[anniespinkhouse.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, yes, to the pretty flames. We are a family of firebugs - candles instead of lights for evenings in the living rooom, candles in the bathroom for baths. This extends to my son as well as my daughter. They're just so relaxing. I recognise the cruddy candles you're describing but they aren't the norm at all here. I bought some Christmasssy ones last year like that and I thought they were faulty. On the whole the ones here are steady and slow burning. A few tea lights go a fair way.

[aerynsun5.livejournal.com]

I always used to have candles, and have some pretty votives, most of which were gifts. Damned cats. No candles, no Christmas tree. (But sometimes they come to stretch out beside me. Progress, after 3 years.)