Sacrifice to the Wedding Gods/DIY Recycle of Glass Candle Jars

Theatre is one of my true loves. My director for most of the plays that I was a part of through college and high school was an incredible lady. She never thought that a play would be a success unless by some accident (never on purpose) blood was shed to the theatre gods. Sometimes it was the tech team, the makeup crew, the actors, or the set builders (mostly) that gave their blood sacrifice.

Well, Monday, I gave my sacrifice to the wedding gods.

See, I have been saving old glass candle jars after we use them and recycling them to use outside the chapel to light the dark winter night. (And because I believe in reusing and recycling, so reusing the glass jars sounded pretty smart.)

So, here's a DIY tip for doing this. If you would like to reuse a pretty jar that has a candle in it (but the candle has burned away so much that it no longer stays lit):

1. Let it cool over night or about 12 hours.
2. Put it in the freezer for a couple of days.
3. Take it out of the freezer and let it thaw for a few hours (to a few days or months.. whenever you have time)
4. Take a butter knife (you can use any moderately sharp object, but this has been the best for me) and crack the wax so that it comes up from the bottom. (This can be done in one go if you are lucky. Normally, I find myself digging out pieces.)
5. Dump out the old wax.
6. Let it soak in hot water for a few minutes. Wash. Dry. Done.

It was the digging out part that ruined me. I was apparently pressing far too hard on the candle in question with my little butter knife and stabbed through the glass and into my hand, shattering the glass.

The cut isn't large and no major shards of glass were in my hands. I'm thankful it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But as it was I bled to the wedding gods.