5 Homemade Candles For Emergencies

Stick a birthday candle inside the butter, oil, crisco or whatever you’re using. Much easier. Also you can pick up a cotton mop head from the dollar store to use for wicks.

When I lived in The Philippines for eight years, I saw how tough life was for the people there. They did the same thing there but with baby food jars. They would use Used oil used to cook their food (except for oil used to fry fish) for their oil lamps. They either used a rolled up piece of aluminum foil or the handle of an Acid Brush, cut it in half and could pull the wick through that and that would sit secure in the hole in the lid. I’d look up on the hills and see so many of these lamps it looked like a starry night. I learned a lot from these people about surviving tough times and never giving up.

Folks, just a heads up to maintain heat in your home: Cover your window with a shower curtain liner and painters tape. Economical way for those on a fixed income and a lot cheaper than commercial grade plastic.

You can take a box, cut off a piece with one “bend”, so it makes a “V”, cover with aluminum foil, and place it standing nearest to your homemade candle to reflect the light, (thus making the light from candle stronger).

One thing to tell people is, if they’re going to be burning their candles in any type of enclosed area to make sure you’ve got adequate ventilation. Also, which may go hand in hand is to make sure your wick(s) aren’t too long, as too long of a wick tends to smoke, whether it be a wax candle or any other type of candle such as your oil or even your butter candle. I lived in the Philippines and learned how to make candles using a small baby food jar, with a hole in the lid just big enough for an all cotton wick and coconut oil. They would thread the wick up through a rolled up piece of thin aluminum and make it extend about an inch above the cap, keeping the jar cool to the touch. It’s actually pretty bright and lasts for hours. They would also glue the jar in the middle of a small square of wood about 5-8” square to make it harder to fall or knock over. Hope this helps someone somewhere.

For the crisco jar candle, it works better if you melt the shortening and simply pour it into the jar. Upon cooling, you will have a perfect jar with no air gaps.

I heard when making candles it really matters the diameter of the candle vs the amount or thickness of wick. If the diameter is big, you'll flood the wick. That's why some candles have more than one wick.

I've been saving old vegetable oil , (a little rancid) but one can put a few drops of essential oil to scent the oil but will be worth saving for heating And light .. save your bacon grease too! ,I keep a large jar in the fridge, best For non stick cooking and Flavoring for potatoes , fried rice , beans ,biscuits.. Eggs ..hope this helps ! Peace and love to all !!

I would’ve just left the crisco in the can, put a wick in it and called it a day.

TKOR 2015: Make your own Metal Foundry TKOR 2019: Giant LARD Candle

@TKOR If you cut off the bottom end of a too long candle, you won't have to worry about cutting through the wick. ❤

Instead of ruining a dish towel, I use jute twine. Works fine!

Straight vegetable oil and strands from your mop. use a close hanger made in a shape to hold them. It lasts hours for a cup.

Butter is way too valuable to use as a candle.

Tip: Make whatever type of candles, heaters, whatever you want BEFORE you need it.

Jute twine or cotton kite string works great also. You can braid the string if you need a larger size wick.

We have tried lots of ways of doing this. ( including all of these) Seems soybean oil works best. In one of the Aladdin lamps (they seem to be more efficient) we have one tablespoon that last for four hours.

10:03 "we used a chisel"... I'm not too sure that's a chisel... looks like a file to me

For the Crisco candles 🕯 I recommend melting in the microwave a few seconds at a time until fully melted so you can pour it nice and neat.

I have a feeling you could use the vegetable oil in place of kerosene in a wick style lamp, but I have found over the years that fuel can only be wicked up so far and a tall reservoir, such as a tall mason jar can actually go out with a lot of oil left in it simply because the wick can't lift it high enough. You should probably do a full burn test on your oil filled candle before calling it done and giving it an hour rating. If there is a problem then consider going with a shorter jar, even if it has to be refilled every few hours.