Activity:
Roll-Up Bubble Wrap Candles
Candles make great gifts for loved ones and are wonderful additions to any celebration. Here's a fun and simple activity that lets your teenager make her very own set of uniquely textured candles! All she has to do is melt down sheets of wax bubble wrap and roll them around wicks. Make small bubble wrap candles to create snazzy cake toppers, or roll larger, scented ones to have great pillar candles that'll be sure to brighten up any room.
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What You Need:
- Candle wax and dye, available at any craft store
- Pan of hot water
- Clean coffee can or similar container to melt wax in
- Thin or thick wicks, depending on whether your candles are thin or large
- Bubble wrap with small or medium bubbles
- Scissors
- Cookie sheet
- Paring knife
- Oven and a stove burner
- Optional: Scents to scent your candle wax, available at any craft store
What You Do:
- Melt the wax by placing it in the coffee can and setting the coffee can in a pot of simmering water. Add the dye and scent as the wax melts.
- Cut the bubble wrap so it’s a little larger than the cookie sheet. Lie the bubble wrap on top of the cookie sheet, bubble-side up, so that it hangs over the edges a little. (This way, the wax won’t sneak under the bubble wrap and spill onto the cookie sheet.)
- After the wax is melted, carefully pour it on top of the bubble wrap until it covers the bubbles.
- Let the sheet of wax bubble wrap sit until it’s solid, but still warm and pliable.
- If it's a hot day, your wax sheet will stay warm and pliable enough to work with.
- If it's a cool day, keep the oven on "warm" (or at 100 degrees), and if the wax sheet gets too hard to roll, put it in the oven for a minute on the cookie sheet. Don’t leave it in the oven too long though, or it will melt again!
- Gently flip over your new wax bubble-wrap sheet and peel off the original plastic bubble wrap.
- With your knife, carefully cut the sheet into rectangles.
- Cut a piece of wick a little longer than one edge of the rectangle. Place it 2 mm from the edge, and press it into the soft wax.
- Roll the wax tightly around the wick until you have a cylinder-shaped candle.
It might take a little practice to get a feel for exactly how soft the wax should be to get it to roll easily. Persistence and patience will pay off though. Once you develop a touch for the wax, you can make beautiful, professional looking candles with a bubble-wrap texture you won’t see anywhere else!
