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5.If your candle is too narrow to fit snugly into
holder, wrap cooking foil or tissue paper around bottom of candle to make base thicker. Don't worry, tissue paper won't burn even if you do allow candle to burn right down into holder as melted wax will soak paper. Having said that, it's never a good idea to allow candles to burn right down; they should be extinguished when they're about 2 inches over holder.
6.If you've allowed candle to burn right down and wax is stuck in holder, put holder into freezer for a couple of hours and wax should be considerably easier to dig out.
7.If you like votive candles, try buying type that have metal cases as these are easier to remove from holders after use. If you only have uncovered type, pour some water into holder before lighting candle. Once extinguished and wax hardened, it should be easier to pop it out of container.
8.Spilled wax should always be allowed to solidify before being removed. Once hard, cover area with brown paper and gently press with a warm iron. The wax will be absorbed into paper.
9.Extinguish candles by pushing wick into liquid wax (don't use your fingers – a used matchstick is a good tool for this). Leave it for about a minute then re-center wick. Using this technique both eliminates smoking from extinguished wick and covers wick with a layer of wax making re-lighting easier.
Sharon grew up in East London but moved to Norway at the age of 19, returning to England in 1998. She now lives in Cheshire with her partner and two of her three children. Besides writing, she is currently studying Social Science with The Open University, runs a web site where women in the UK can meet other women for platonic friendship (www.friendsyourway.co.uk), potters in her garden, reads and generally tries to enjoy life. Sharon can be contacted at s.jacobsen@doodlebugmedia.co.uk
