Sara Saves Glass Candle Jars

 I hate waste.

I said it before and I say it again that you may understand the severity of this predicament.

My husband's family can vouch. I had big spiral bindings that I had taken off some old college workbooks and stuck them in the bag of toys for the nieces and nephews to play with when they are over. You laugh now... but those kids loved 'em! Spoiling your kids doesn't have to involve money. ;)

{This is not to be confused with hoarding....I'm not a hoarder. I only have 1 dog. ;D }

Anyway, there has to be a name for this disease green quality. 

Wastophobia? No, I don't think that's a word....

I guess it's just.... green. Well, call it what you will, I've got a bad case of it.

What's this got to do with anything....

Oh yeah.

One of the biggest things that really frosts my cookies is wasting candle jars.

(.... pickle jars is another story)

Candle jars are usually a really good quality with thick beautiful glass. They also come in all shapes and sizes perfect for storage, gifts, vases... you name it.

If only people knew how easy and quick it was to return their used candle jar back to a masterpiece!

Ok, maybe I exaggerate slightly but still. Let's not waste beautiful jars.

Anyway, let's get to it.

As I said, this is easy and only takes half an hour plus you aren't even having to watch it the whole time. It actually worked a lot better than I thought so try this out and give it a chance to surprise you!

Here are your essential ingredients:
Uglified glass candle jar
Hot water in pot
Paper towels
Plastic container
Oven mitt
Razor and pliers (optional)
Candy (optional)
Love (not optional)

I am pretty sure it is a human instinct to feel loss and sadness when looking into the soul of an exhibition like this one.

 

 

Awww.... :(  Poor jar.

K. So start by peeling off all the labels. Make sure you get the plastic AND the adhesive sheet. There are two.

You can pull them off at the same time if you are tricksy like me and use some small rusty pliers to peel it off after you get it started with a razor.



If you pulled it off too quickly and/or you just have some residual adhesive, you can use a razor to get most of it off.

Place your jar in a pot of water filled about 3/4 of the way over medium heat. Your water doesn't have to be boiling for it to melt the candle wax, fyi. I would recommend not boiling the water so you don't burn yourself on the glass or steam. The glass can take it but your fingers can't.

Luckily wax floats so we don't have to worry about our jar getting too hot on the bottom of the pan and exploding into a bagillion pieces in our face. Please do take care and use your heads.

Use oven mitts and hot pads to handle the now hot glass. See how it is starting to melt? Yay!

Melt it enough so that the last chunk can fit out of the jar neck and all the wax on the side of the jar is melted.

Pour the liquid wax into a plastic container. You may save the wax for use later if you want to, you can chuck the whole container with the wax or you can allow the wax to solidify and pop it out of the container and throw the wax away and keep the container. Whatever works for you.
The neck of the jar was cool enough after a few seconds that I grabbed onto it to pour.

The bottom thicker part of the glass stayed hot for much longer so I used an oven mitt to pour the rest into the container.

Beaut! So now we have a mostly clean jar with just a little wax on the side and lip.
Like so (see below). Take your jar and dunk it in the pot of hot water. Allow the wax to melt by swirling/turning the jar in the water. Much of the wax is now probably pooling on top of the water and no longer on the side of the jar. Take the jar out and pour off any water.

Using a paper towel, wipe out the inside of the jar. This will take the last of the wax along with the water. You don't really have to wipe it at first. Just blot until most comes up then take a fresh paper towel and wipe it clean.

Hee hee. Oopsies. Looks like I forgot a label.
Easey Peasey. Just take a razor and take off most of the label. Put the jar back in the hot water for about 10 seconds then take it out and wipe the adhesive off with another clean paper towel.

Now make sure you clean the lid too by putting it in the water for about 10-15 seconds. Take it out and wipe with a paper towel. Do take apart the plastic ring from the glass so you don't get water trapped in there. It will come off with a small amount of man-handling.

Buff out any residual goo with a paper towel, dry everything off and put it back together. There ya have it! A pretty clean jar that looks fresh from the jar factory!

Really, there are a ton of uses for glass jars. I am using mine to store my lifesavers in the pantry! Pretty! :)

They are perfect for candy since they are air-tight, clear and look like old-fashioned candy jars!!

My dream of having an old fashioned candy store may come true yet.... and how awesome will it be to have it in my humble pantry. :)

I should just make a business of this. Any of you who don't want their candle jars after you are done, bring them to me and I will bring it back to glory. =)  Candles. The gift that keeps on giving.

“Thrift is poetic because it is creative; waste is unpoetic because it is waste.”
― G.K. Chesterton,