Oldest Candle Company in the World

Did you know the oldest candle company in the world is in Ireland. Rathbornes' started making candles in 1488 and have never stopped.

I thought it was fascinating that there was a company making candles, actually any company, that had lasted that long. I wonder if they have an old attic I can nose around in.

They make mainly church candles. That makes sense, since they started making candles when there were still knights and kings.

Their candles are made with beeswax and paraffin.

Fire Starters made with left over wax.

I was ask today about fire starters. They are mentioned several times on the website as a way to use left over or second hand wax. I did not realize that many people didn't know how fire starters are made.

One of the most common types of fire starters are pine cones dipped in wax.

Not only pretty in a wooden bowl, but add a few green pine sprigs and you have a winter centerpiece. Toss a couple under logs in a fireplace and your flames will grow quicker.

Pinecones can be dipped in scented wax and covered with glitter for decorative purposes. Nothing says Christmas like pinecones.

Mix wax and sawdust in a paper cup for a more traditional fire starter. You will need to add a large wick, like wicks used for dynamite will get the starter burning bright.

If you want more ideas on fire starters using your left over wax, visit this site
for Outdoor Ideas There you will find a list of homemade fire starter ideas.

Have fun and keep on crafting.

Waxed Dipped Bread

We, the kids and I, used cookie cutters to make cut our shapes from day old bread. Then some pieces of bread we smashed out for a more different look, others we just let dry as they were.

After all the pieces were dry the next day. We poked hole in the tops with a pencil and ran homespun ribbons through to be used as hangers and dippers. Next we dipped the breads into our melted wax. We did not use scented wax, we used unscented brown wax.

Very cool.

The kids were excited and wanted to dip other things, so we got some pine cones from the tree outside and dipped them too. We did scent the wax for the pine cones.

That was our Saturday afternoon project.

Just an idea, I thought I would share.

Salt Dough Project

A great way to incorporate something new for your upcoming holiday season, yes, I said holiday season, is to add salt dough crafts to your baskets, candles, and other fixins.

It is never to early to start thinking about next season's line of products.

Salt Dough projects are easy and very affordable. Ok, let me say what I really mean, simple and cheap.

When you are looking for that next great craft, you have to keep in mind the wholesale price, retail price, and your cost.

This old craft has been around for a long time, you can still get the recipe from Morton Salt. I still love mail order, but you can download their book too.
Put your own spin on it and you will have a very inexpensive craft item, that looks very expensive.

Ok, to the Salt Dough Project

You are going to need 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt, faucet water, a pie tin, some cooking spray, your own potpourri, and an old butter knife from the kitchen drawer. Cheap enough for you?

Now mix your flour and salt together in a bowl, stir in some water - just enough to make the dough easy to work, but not sticky.

Then use the cooking spray to spray the pie tin.

Have your preheated oven set to 250 degrees.

Now, roll your dough out to a large circle. Like a normal pie, about 1/4 inches thick or there abouts. Like a regular pie shell, put it in the pie tin and work it to look good. Do this for all your pie tins.

Take your remaining dough, wrap it up with wax paper, and save it for later.

Pie crust cook for 30 minutes at 250 degrees. Cool.

Now that the crust is cool, add your potpourri.

With the remaining dough, roll a large circle, and cut strips for a lattice crust top.
At this point I am going to assume you know how to make a lattice crust, or have at least seen one and can figure this out.

If you dampen the dough with water, it will glue down to the cooked pie crust.
The top of the crust will need to dry for a couple days. More if you are having rainy weather.

Be cook with the packaging and decorating the top of the crust, like homespun fabric bows, dried apples, dried oranges, cinnamon sticks, dried bananas, you get the idea.

I have added some real cinnamon to the bottom of my roll out area, so the top of the pie crust will look "baked".


Salt Dough project can really be cool. You can add some candle scent to the salt dough mixture.
Salt Dough is great for making magnets, Keepsakes, cookie cutter decorations, or adding as a garnish to your baskets. Food coloring, Cool-Aide, real spices......
About a billion ways to use Salt Dough.

Good luck!

Mixing Candle Scents

Many people have ask me over the years if they could mix scents to make new candle scents.

The answer is yes.

Small time candle makers wanting new scents using existing scents on hand, instead of new purchases can create new scents by mixing.

This works small time, but there are some draw backs. One, you can't get a consistent mixing formula, unless you write down - to the gram - each ingredient's measurements .

There are many great places on the net for you to find scent mixing recipes to do just this, so I don't feel the need, at this time, to add a scent mixing section on my site.

The Candle Cauldron has been around for eons. It has been eons since they have added new scent mixing formulas too.

You can find a few more at Nature's Gardens. They haven't updated their page in a few years either, but for a beginner, the formulas are a beginning.


CandleTech has a nice list and they add new mixtures occasionally. They ask for your recipes, so they can add it to their list. (This way, your secret best scent is in internet space for anyone to use.) Silly customers, tricks are for.....

For beginners wanting new scents from their existing products, these would be the best places to start. If you looking for consistence fragrances formulas, don't forget to write down the measurements.