What to do with excess candle wax

briskbeats

Have a three wick candle about 12cm wide. Had it lit for 4-6 hours and candles just tunnelled. Now wicks bases exposed and unable to light anymore. 

Still got about 40% of the wax left. What to do with the wax? Candle is in a shallow glass pot.

Why did the candles tunnel as read somewhere that you burn a candle one hour per inch diameter.

theoretica

Melt the wax and add new wicks - or pour into a smaller old candle container with a new wick.  Could have been a poorly designed candle to tunnel - or designed to tunnel.

tboo

I melt all the leftover wax in a saucepan, add essential oils and make my own wax melts.

They do turn the vilest of colour but I don't mind that.

briskbeats said:

Why did the candles tunnel as read somewhere that you burn a candle one hour per inch diameter.

I've had tunnelling before and mine was not letting the wax touch the glass to set it

Candle tunnelling occurs when only the centre of the wax right around the wick melts and burns down. ... Sometimes, candle tunnelling is caused by a wick that isn't large enough for the size of the candle, but more often it's caused by the timing of the first burn

Smoosh

Melt it and either put a new wick in or use as a wax melt. 

cornishchick

Is the space left at the bottom of the tunnel big enough to place a tealight in, without the metal base? this is what I do. 

briskbeats

Thanks for the replies. I will see if the tea lights without metal bases will fit the gaps. 

After doing this thread, I read online that put some foil around edge of candle jar helps to stop  tunnelling. Done that with a CNN medium Yankee Candle and burns evenly 

KxMx

This is why I buy votives, a small plastic wrapper, little wax waste and no leftover jars. 

oystercatcher

I have used up old wax by grating it and packing it into a jar around a part used birthday cake candle. No messy melting or buying a wick from goodness knows where. The resulting candle seemed to burn just fine.