Many people enjoy using or making decorative candles. They can be made of many different materials, including dried up oils or fats from leftover foods you’re eating, natural waxes such as coconut oil, and other combustible materials like tree bark or flower petals.
Some even make their own so they know what ingredients are used in them. Others create fake white candles which contain boron to prevent the candle from burning properly and melting down.
Many people use these decorations during winter months to enjoy some cozy light reading or movie watching. Or they use them for fun decoration either painted onto an existing shelf, table, or wall or built into a new one.
Making your own decorations is a great way to liven up your home and give yourself some creative work to do.
Make a plan for the layout of your lantern
Now, let’s talk about how to put this candle into your jack o’lantern! First, you will need to make sure that your hand is steady. Because this can be tricky at times, we recommend using a bowl or container to place the top of the lantern into while holding onto the handle until it is set.
Once everything is stable, insert the tip of the wax wick into the bottom of the lantern and push it down just enough so there is an opening between the top and the wick. Then, roll the top up over the wick to close off the hole. Your new candle should now burn!
After it burns down, pull the lid away and admire your work! If you like, you can wash the lantern with some soap and water to remove any leftover bits of wax.
Make a plan for lighting the candle
To light your lantern, you must first make sure you have all of your supplies ready. You will need a source of oxygen, such as air, liquid or solid.
You can use either a lighter fluid or natural oil such as coconut oil as an ignition source. Once it is lit, the fuel slowly burns down creating heat and light!
This process takes several minutes, so be prepared by having these things ready beforehand. Also, remember that candles burn out, so please prepare yourself for this fact.
Once everything is prepped and you are completely set, then your person can place the lantern somewhere close to the fire and light the candle. They may also want to add some kind of cover or glass to protect the lantern from burning or dripping wax.
Use the correct type of candle
Having a party? Try putting some candles into a jack o’lantern! You can use taper, pillar, or flat style candles. It does not matter which kind you pick as long as they all have similar lengths.
Tip: Make sure your hand is fully dried before inserting the wick into the solid part of the lantern.
Be careful not to burn yourself when lighting your candle. We recommend using a match, lighter, or both to light your candle.
Don’t burn the candle down
While it may sound crazy, there are actually some tricks you can use to put a regular white taper candle inside of a painted glass lantern. You just have to be careful not to burn out the flame or break the container!
The trick is to only pour enough liquid into the top of the vessel so that it does not come all the way up the sides. This creates an empty space within the lantern where you could place your candle.
Keep the candle away from the lantern
When you put your new lamp-shaped candle into its proper place, make sure it is not touching the lid of the lantern or the handle!
This could cause the flame to burn up, down, or both. Also, be careful that it does not get stuck in the opening of the lantern.
Once it has been placed inside properly, check out our helpful tips below for some additional tricks to use this light source effectively.
Take the candle off before it burns down
When you put out a candled jack o’lantern, make sure you take it apart properly!
Most people leave their plastic pumpkin shell as is when they pull the candle out. But what happens if there are leftover bits of melted wax inside the mouth?
The hot, molten wax will solidify and stick to these pieces. If you try to use your new lantern without removing this first, the hard piece of wax can break or damage the lid or handle.
So instead, just remove the plastic shell by either scraping it away with a knife or using heat-proof tools like a blow dryer to melt it away. Once it is gone, you can wash and recycle or throw away the plastic parts.
When you take the candle out, make sure to put it back in the correct place
While doing some research for this article, we learned that some people do not agree on whether or not putting your lit votive in the jack o lantern shell is allowed. Some say yes, but most experts believe that it is not!
Putting the candle in the lid of the container is definitely not permitted because the flame can be touched when lifting up the cover. This could cause fire or even burn someone if they try to pull away the cover too soon!
Also, some say that using tinder as kindling is not acceptable due to possible sparks igniting the surface material of the pot. However, our expert told us that this is only considered true if the spark comes into direct contact with any dried-out wood.
Remember to give the candle a chance to re-light
After you put out your candle, leave it alone! Do not snuggle up with your loved one until morning or else they may wake up and find that the bed is totally engulfed in flames because you left your candle burning down too hard!
Once the candles are burned down completely, take some time to let them sit and extinguish naturally. The wick will be the last thing to burn down and can be the hardest to check.
Make sure that you do not touch either the stick or the melted wax as you might be stuck later! If possible, use a knife to poke the stick slightly so that it comes away easily. You want to make sure there’s no leftover wax hanging around!
After this process, wash all of the pieces using warm water and a soft cloth. Don’t use soap as that could hurtle the glass back into flame! Let them dry thoroughly before storing away for next year’s decoration season.