My grandmother would always collect leftover stubs of crayons and mix them together in a mold to make lovely colorful candles. She was excellent at recycling everything possible into new items for additional use.
Cool! A very modern version of people setting aside their tallow and other fats. Can you remember how the candles smelled? Crayons smell kind of funky so I always assumed candles would smell the same, but if they don't then that's definitely on my project list.
I have set myself up a little writing table in the dormer in my bedroom right next to the window, and recently I wrote an essay using the fine laid paper from your shop and a quill that I hand-carved using the instruction of your documentary on 18th Century handwriting from a turkey vulture feather, and I did this at night by candlelight. I have to say, this was one of the best experiences of my life. Thank you, Townsends. You are truly bringing back the 18th Century.
@@davestelling I'm blown away that 47 people liked it and that one of them was Townsends. I truly expected no one to see this. Thank you. Highly recommend. I want to be a writer, so this is important to me. Wish me luck!
My Dearest Chad, I trust this humble note finds thee in good health and high spirits. I have taken but a moment, in the cold of this eve, to scribble my thoughts upon this parchment for thine amusement, as I find great solace in the world of moving images you have shared. In truth, my fingers grow numb with the wind howling through the cracks of the windows, alas! It seems my time has been cut short. I must now cease, for a most unnatural chill has seized my han-
I still remember when I was about 7 years old I was walking with my mum in the park when we spotted a bunch of people sitting around a giant barrel full of melted wax dipping candles. It was just around this time of year, end of november, early december probably, so it already started to get dark and cold and somehow the gentle light and the warmth radiating from the wax seemed so magical to me. They let you pick a wick and you could dip your own candles. They helped me of course as I was a small child. I still remember how slowly more and more people came to try their hands at candle making, children and adults alike, just there in the midst of a dark and cold park. I was so proud of the candle I made.
We make and sell bayberry candles with a 50/50 beeswax blend on our farm in Massachusetts. They have a light green color and a BEAUTIFUL nostalgic aroma from the bayberry. Same methods. Once you get the technique down it's a nice, relaxing thing to do on a Sunday.
I second the request for an online store location. Christmas is around the corner, and my wife loves candles. It's a great gift idea for all the husbands out there, because no woman can EVER have too many candles.
Yankee candle made me fall really hard in love with "bayberry". I hope that's a similar fragrance. 🥰I don't know what the actual natural fragrance of bayberry is like, but I'm assuming it's better
After I made the happy discovery that any impurities sink to the very bottom (like leftover soot and whatever), I started saving and collecting used candle wax from my friends, especially if they had an event with lots of little candles. Just chuck it all in a pot, melt it all together (mine are mostly paraffin, with some beeswax for scent and color) and dip away. I used to sort of carve the soot out and only use the "pure" wax, but you just don't have to. It's very nice to have homemade candles, especially since they're so expensive to buy! Awesome episode!
For the working class people in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the candles were mostly tallow with just enough beeswax added to ' stiffen ' the candles and prevent them from sagging in hot weather. To conceal the smell of the tallow, a few drops of mint oil, rose oil, or lemon/orange oil were added to provide a much more pleasant aroma. If a person was short of beeswax, you could make the candles out of tallow, and then simply dip them in melted beeswax to provide a harder outer coating.
During the 1940s and 1950s, candle making was a history class project in our local high school. Two reasons: 1.) To teach a history lesson. 2.) There were still shortages from WW2 and candles might be needed (some items were still rationed in some places until 1954) It was also taught how waxes and tallow could safely be obtained locally if needed.
@@debbralehrman5957 Canada, the USA, Australia, and others did the same thing. We were all in it, all supported each other, and shared the shortages. You must remember that the world was not only coming off war, we were also still trying to recover from the world-wide depression. There was an almost continuous string from WW1 to depression to WW2 that made it tough for everyone. Things were so bad in the USA during those times that it was rare to see cars on the roads, animals in the wild because they were hunted for food, and if there were cars in an area, all of the fresh road kill was picked up, examined, and cooked by someone.
@@jerryodell1168 I just asked because it was only in recent years that I realized how much after WW2 Britain was still rationing. Which suprised me because I am usually aware of modern history. It was not my intent to be rude or disrespectful. Sorry if I offended.🙁
I have some deer tallow/suet candles that I made last winter that give off no smell at all. You have to boil the rendered tallow in several changes of water though to get a clean product though. I have a couple of antique candle moulds - a 10 barrel and a 16 barrel - that I'm going to try out this year. Awesome video!
This immediately reminded me of "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. One of my favorite books in the series since it talked about how things were made.
True story. I used to work at a steel mill, and one of the things you can do to reduce roll wear, is to oil the rolls rolling out the steel (reduces surface friction). The oil used is animal fat. So the entire mill smelled like rancid bacon grease. Smelled both tasty and disgusting at the same time. So i feel you on tallow candles. One side benefit of tallow candles, is you CAN eat them if you run out of food. Will taste revolting, but fat is fat when you are starving.
Absolutely fascinating, Jon. And oddly relaxing, too. I love Beeswax. Many years ago, I worked in one of my town's museums, which is a huge Elizabethan mansion, on the edge of a vast park, in the centre of town. It's displays are in rooms, each depicting a different era. On the rear of the mansion, there is a whole Tudor house, which was rescued from demolition, and moved, whole, to the site, and married seamlessly to the mansion - this was in the 1920's. The upstairs floor of this house had a floor of oak boards, which due to their undulating nature, had to be polished by hand - the rotary polisher would have just ripped them to bits. They were polished using a large block of beeswax and soft cloths. It took ages, but I loved doing it. For the rest of the day, one smelled pleasantly of beeswax, and the great payoff was seeing visitors - some of whom were astonished that it was done by hand - remark on the floor and the fragrant odour.
That was great Jon, love the smell of the Bee's Wax Candles and there are several uses for the left over bee's wax around the shop for tool maintenance. Thanks for sharing with us, Fred.
Been following for a decade +, and have made candles this exact way-it works 🙌🏻 Thanks for making your brilliant content. It has taught me so much. God Bless
Get over to the UK, Blists Hill working museum in Telford, Shropshire. The candle makers are brilliant. Great fun for anyone as you have to change over modern money to Victorian money. Even for us Brits it can be confusing. And a pub.
I went many times as a child and several times since then too! They have a proper rotating candle dipping apparatus you can watch in action, and on school trips you get to dip your own and take it home- I've still got my two to this day 😅. It always smells strongly in there, although not of meat or particularly animal-ly. You don't have to change over your money at the bank, although it is fun to do. And there's a great deal more there than just the pub (when I was going there on school trips the pub wasn't there yet, and I'm only in my 20s!).
I want to see you do a video on books and book stores in the 1700's. You should talk about where the average person bought books back then, how many books people typically had in their house, and what kind of books they typically had. I'm curious about this because you cook recipes from so many old cookbooks from back then and it makes me wonder how common or uncommon it was for average people to have those cookbooks, or if only rich elites had them. How many people, especially women, even knew how to read back then and what were the schools and education like in the colonies?
@@kimberlycockram1894 I just wondered what kind of cookbooks the average person in the colonies were using and where they would've gotten them from, since John uses so many of those cookbooks for this channel. I wonder how realistic it is that a lot of people back then would've been using those books too.
@@Melissa0774cookbooks used repeated similar instructions with limited vocabulary, so I assume that many people could use them. Much of the writing from that time that we read has complicated syntax and wide vocabulary. There were snobs then just as now.
7:05 I'm surprised you don't just use two longer wires running lengthwise to take up less room. Could also have simple notches on the rim for easy wire placement
Every time I watch a video from this channel, I look for the subscribe button, only to find that I’ve already been subscribed for years. Great videos. Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us!
Great video! When I was a child we often poured candles. We used old coke bottles as molds (had to carefully break them), often using different colored wax. Fond memories.
Something of a lost art was the paper milk carton candles my dad and I made when I was young. The mold was a cleaned milk carton. You poured liquid red or green dyed paraffin over cracked ice in the carton and the wick. Then set it. The candle came out with an amazing Swiss Cheese texture. Don't think those cartons are made anymore and I am guessing plastic is unsuitable.
@patricialavery8270 My mom made milk carton candles like these and they did look like swiss cheese. 😄 I think she also melted crayons separately and then poured in the melted crayon colors along with the clear/whitish wax to give a marbled type of design. 🤩
I did not realize how precious and expensive candles were then I watched Candleford on Masterpiece Theatre with Dame Judith Dench. The young new doctor needed to preform emergency surgery at night and the whole community donated candles which they really could not afford to give but did.
We make about 1000 beeswax candles (almost) every year for Moravian church Christmas services in our area. We use custom made 10' taper molds similar to ones you have with 100% beeswax. We use a sponge under the bottom of the mold during pouring to stop the wax from getting out, and when we tie the wicks at the top, we use a wooden block sized to the molds which have 12 candles total. We typically use a heat gun to help loosen the candles a bit after they're solidified (but are still warm) to help get them loose. Using the wooden block on top as a handle allows us to pull all of the candles out at once, where they are then hung to cool off. After that we trim the ends and hand polish to give them a nice sheen.
my teacher in 2nd grade, Mrs. Asher, taught us how to make dipped candles. She also taught us how to make butter from raw milk with an old school butter churn. They are lessons I remember, and often think about to this day. I'm not sure schools would allow kids, especially 2nd graders, to work with hot wax these days.
Even if you are using a mould to make candles, you may still find it necessary to use the dip method if only to make tapers. A taper is a very thin candle used, in the absence of matches, to light other candles. Generally they are no thicker than modern birthday cake candles but much longer. Very useful if you want to light more than a couple of candles. Another useful piece of equipment is the candle extinguisher or candle snuffer. It consists of a small cone at the end of a handle. In this context it is a different instrument from a candle wick trimmer which can also be called a 'snuffer' but serves an entirely different purpose. The use of a snuffer helps to avoid problems associated with blowing hot wax and it avoids the smoke and odour of a smouldering wick which results from simply blowing a candle out. Extinguishers are still commonly used in homes and churches. Sometimes the handle of the snuffer can be three or four feet long and the cone has a holder for a taper. This is how you light and extinguish candles on a chandelier (or those tall candles found in some religious settings).
I wonder if the truly poor ever made candles in sand molds? In our art class we created designs in damp sand, attached wicks and poured the wax. It is not a true sand casting (the kind where the sand sticks to the candle), but was so much fun for all of us.
I remember making sand candles in Girl Scouts. We'd gather shells, twigs, acorns, pine cones, and a flat rock as the base to lay in the sand first, set the wicks, and then pour the wax. Mine was in the curio cabinet for years.
I've made candles using both methods. The molds we used were hinged, made it much easier to remove the candles. It's been decades since I did it, I remember keeping the mold cold until the wax was poured in so the wax would immediately solidify and not leak out everywhere.
Thanks for this. I recently just participated in my first living history event. At my table I was stationed to I had a display for soap and candle making. Soap was right up my alley as I already make soap. I've been wanting to get into candle making and had just purchased some books on candle making that I hadn't had time prior to the event to sit down and read. I was able to tell a little bit about the process with my limited knowledge. This just helped fill in the gaps. I'm hoping to be making my own candles before my next event. 😊
This is so darn satisfying to watch, especially seeing the girth of the taper expand. I bet you could add smelly oils to the wax itself, or perhaps dunk the candle in the wax, let it cool a moment, then dunk into the sweet oil to make a scent candle
I used to make tallow candles and they smelled like meat cooking when they burned, very pleasant smell. I have a tin, round shaped candle box with a hinged lid and small clasp closure to keep mice out of the candles hanging on the wall. At the end of the evening, all of the candles needed to be stored in the candle box . I believe I may have bought the candle box from you folks. I taught1840 life skills for many years and absolutely loved every minute of it!!!
Many many years ago when I was a kid, I attended a history camp at Fort Nisqually in Washington. One of the activities we did was candle making using the dip method. This video was very nostalgic for me!
This is one of my favorite kind of videos, the kind that sends me looking up more on the topic. So checking the Wikipedia article on candles, and it says their modern era with the self trimming pleated and treated wick started 1825 with several patents. This exceeds the channels time range a bit, so I'm sorry, we are all going to have to use inferior candles for authenticity. Also, interesting to think that candles existed for so long without these relatively simple innovations. Makes me wonder what items we are going that with now.
I make tallow for soaps, and moisturizers. Cook down your beef fat and strain it well, using cheesecloth. If you add about 3 teaspoons of salt to your strained tallow and use an immersion blender to mix in a cup of water and put it in the fridge to separate, after a couple of times, the salt removes any cooked meat smell from your tallow. My tallow comes out pure white with no smell. I use 1/4 tallow or lard to 2/3 beeswax for a candle.
I have half a memory of reading an account of candle making at home, and they tied some kind of small weight (lead maybe?) to the ends of the wicks, to keep them straight for the first few dips, then snipped them off once the wax had built up a little.
The development of the wick is surprisingly involved. You'd assume it was a solved issue for a long time, but wicks were still being improved on right up until the advent of the electric light. We'd probably still be improving on them now, if we kept using candles and oil lamps as our primary light source.
Interesting, always good to see how things used to be made in the past, I was expecially intrigued by the bit about the wicks having to be cut regularly. Got to say though, I'd like to see the channel make a tallow candle that most of the population would've used in those times, rather than the beeswax ones.
I was a chandler at Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum back in the late 1970s and 80s. I made three kinds of candles there, Spermaceti (until it became illegal), beeswax and bayberry. I used molds of various sizes and I also dipped candles in large quantities. Concerning the molds, I never used clay to stop the ends from leaking out wax, I always tied a knot, and pulled the wick up firmly and tied it on the cross bar. Always worked very well and still does. One just must use the correct wick size for the mold and candle size. I still make candles, using antique molds and dipping.
Good video. I've been making traditional and custom candles for 35 years, there is a lot to know if you want to have it as a hobby or a business. There are great books out there with valuable information so your candle making experience won't be disappointing.
This is awesome. Brings back memories of 5th grade field trip to a California Missionary. We walked in a circle taking turns dipping the string into hot wax.
@atherwitch no, honestly I don't know. I know she was 1/2 Cherokee Native American, and she taught me some of our tribe's language and traditions, and even how to sing songs in our tribe's native language. She lived through the great depression and my great grandfather was a moonshiner. That's actually how my grandmother, their daughter, met my grandfather. My grandfather had just been discharged from the army after ww2 and couldn't find a job so he became my great grandfather's apprentice in running Tennessee moonshine. One night the police started chasing them so they had to ditch their cargo and head home through the woods. They didn't make any money that night, so my great grandfather took my grandfather home with him to eat supper as payment for his services. While there, my grandfather became acquainted with my grandmother. The rest is history.
Very interesting video. It shows how time consuming candlemaking could be if you didn't have some tools to help. Also, tallow candles *were* popular - because they were much cheaper and easier to get than superior beeswax ones. Also also - there were candle clocks in use - basically candles of set size, that were marked on the side with notches indicating how many hours passed since candle was lit.
My family visited Colonial Williamsburg when I was a kid. I surprise myself sometimes with memories that come back to me, though it was 60 years ago. I remember the interesting smells of the Apothecary shop, and seeing how candles were made, bonnets were trimmed, and metals wrought. We didn't take the inside tour of the Governor's mansion, but we did walk around the gardens and lose ourselves in the maze.
I use your tin mold for beeswax (and love it) but I also make "candles" with Crisco and stiff wicks in quart canning jars. Put the wick in upside down and snip off the silver tab. They don't stink while they're burning but only for a bit when they're put out.
I work at a furnishing store and often have to replace broken candles that customers bring in. We throw them in the trash anyway, so my boss gave me permission to sometimes take home one or two where I recycle them into camping tea lights. Therefore I break them up further, remove the wick and cut it into smaller trims which I clamp into those wick holders from the bottoms of tea lights and whenever I empty another box of mints I put two or three of those wick trims into the bottom of the tin box and melt some wax into it. And when I go camping or on a picknick I have some pocket sized romantic candle light with me. 😅 But now I remember there's still several pounds of paraffin wax lying in my cupboard and I'm really thinking about buying or making a candle mold for some proper candle light dinner.
Hey John, could you guys do a video on 18th century toilets/plumbing? As a new father who is trying to potty train my child, I couldn’t help but wonder about how people did their business in the 18th century- whether be in towns or on the homestead. Thank you.
If you let the wax cool in the cup, to the point it just starts to form a skin, before you poor it into the mold, it will prevent the wax sticking to the mold, and the wax will usually shrink away from the mold instead of cupping the bottom of the candles.
Cooled off beeswax can be rubbed between your fingers and then use to plug those small holes the wicks come through instead of using clay. Cutting the candles on the other end then trimming off the squares is really not a big deal and it makes sure that all of the candle mold barrels actually fill up with the wax. When removing the candles, a simple thing to do if the candle is stuck, is use a hair dryer to blow medium hot air on the barrel of one; then pull it out and do the next one. As long as you don't heat it up too hot, they come out nice and smooth with very little effort.
Dry graphite spray might be a useful release agent. Looks like black spray paint when wet but it dries quickly and shouldn't dissolve in the wax. Also, candles used to be pretty expensive and a lot of people back then relied on rush lights which were a poor-man's candle. Though the plant might've been limited to the UK area.
Great Video. You could have also mentioned that the braided v-wicks are directional. Also that there are different size wicks for different diameter candles.
'Dip' candles go faster if you keep a pot of cold water nearby. After each wax dip, lowering them into the cold water firms them up faster and allows for a thicker coat with each dip in the wax. Using a 'Follower' or 'Candle Thimble' would ensure all the wax burned and didn't just drool down the side of your taper, shortening the life of the candle and making a hard to clean mess...
Tallow candle wax melted faster than beeswax and so required the use of scissor style wick trimmers. About every ten minutes or so wicks needed trimming to reduce black soot from floating in air and depositing on white table cloths etc. The scissor shape snuffers had 4 features: wick trimmer, flame snuffer, tip of blade forms wax rivulets for proper dripping and on some trimmers on finger holes to scrape wax drippings for remelting.
LOOOOOOL I need new glasses. I read that title as candies, and was confused for a full 5 minutes waiting for us to talk about candies, till I rechecked the title.
I keep bees in backyard hives and collect the beeswax. I render it in a solar oven to strain out impurities like pollen, dead bee parts, etc. Then I use the clean wax to make candles, especially for gift giving.
The second method reminds me of how Moravian Lovefeast candles are made in Old Salem. Place a little bowed wrapping on the bottom of the candle and you can hold it for a few minutes without getting dripped on, unlike a parrafin candle. Plus, the beeswax is recyclable 😀!
Love it, I do re-use glass from parfumed candles, filling it again with beeswax but I tried to add scent to them as well although not much of a success! So would be interesting to see if back then they made candles with scent as well and how to properly make it at home, ideally using natural products.
I worked at a candle factory and we made stick candles on a continuous drawing machine with big drum rollers at each end. The wick was drawn thought a wax bath and immediately through a graduated forming die... each revolution a bigger diameter until desired thickness was met.
If anyone is having a problem understanding why the 19th century wick design is self trimming, a candle flame is hottest on the outside where the vaporized wax comes into contact with fresh oxygen, the inside of the flame is basically hollow, just hot wax vapor that's not burning. When the charred wick is standing straight up it's not hot enough to burn it to ash and there's not enough oxygen available and so it smokes and smolders. The woven wick curls off to the side as it burns, which allows it to reach the hottest part of the flame and the outside oxygen causing the leftover carbon, all that remains of the natural fibers, to burn away.
Sorry, one more comment: It's interesting that you mentioned the old candle wicks standing up straight and getting too hot. I've been on several tours of old colonial-era houses, where a "wick trimmer" is a common implement. I've always wondered why those were so common back then. That certainly explains it, as trimming the wick would help to mitigate this problem. This is also good to know if I make my own candles in the future.
I made a candle when I was a kid on a field trip to a historical recreation site. I think I still have it somewhere. I remember it smelled really good.
The reason why tin or brass molds were (and are) still preferred is because of thermal transfer; allowing that outer layer of wax to cool rapidly, reducing shrinkage but also causing easier release of the wax from the mold - thus no need for any mold release help like sprays. Sometimes the older ways and products are superior to newer things - its worth the time finding a brass/tin mold or manufacturing one (tin and brass tubes, sheet, and stock are readily available from manufacturers like K&S Precision Metals). Stainless steel is just the wrong material for the mold.
Very cool video! I love reading by candlelight, but the candles go fast and they can be expensive. I'll have to try making them some day, thanks for the education and the inspiration!
stearin forms an outer sheath the entire height of the candle with a parrafin core. the stearin burns at a MUCH higher temp than parrafin. with these candles, the parrafin and wick burn down and then the stearin burns. these are the smokeless and dripless candles of the modern world.
My grandmother would always collect leftover stubs of crayons and mix them together in a mold to make lovely colorful candles. She was excellent at recycling everything possible into new items for additional use.
Cool! A very modern version of people setting aside their tallow and other fats.
Can you remember how the candles smelled? Crayons smell kind of funky so I always assumed candles would smell the same, but if they don't then that's definitely on my project list.
My mom would do the same thing.
I’ve recycled candles I just set all my used up candle scraps in my car in summer-easy free heat
@@ConLustig Clever! Although if I ever tried that and it spilled I would feel quite the fool, haha.
I have kids and so always have crayons on the floor, never thought of adding them to candles!
I have set myself up a little writing table in the dormer in my bedroom right next to the window, and recently I wrote an essay using the fine laid paper from your shop and a quill that I hand-carved using the instruction of your documentary on 18th Century handwriting from a turkey vulture feather, and I did this at night by candlelight. I have to say, this was one of the best experiences of my life. Thank you, Townsends. You are truly bringing back the 18th Century.
What a neat little exercise!
@@davestelling I'm blown away that 47 people liked it and that one of them was Townsends. I truly expected no one to see this. Thank you. Highly recommend. I want to be a writer, so this is important to me. Wish me luck!
@@TheChadPad You won't need luck, you already are one. The more you write, the more of a writer you are. :)
@ Thank you :) That means the world to me. God bless you!
My Dearest Chad,
I trust this humble note finds thee in good health and high spirits. I have taken but a moment, in the cold of this eve, to scribble my thoughts upon this parchment for thine amusement, as I find great solace in the world of moving images you have shared. In truth, my fingers grow numb with the wind howling through the cracks of the windows, alas! It seems my time has been cut short.
I must now cease, for a most unnatural chill has seized my han-
I still remember when I was about 7 years old I was walking with my mum in the park when we spotted a bunch of people sitting around a giant barrel full of melted wax dipping candles. It was just around this time of year, end of november, early december probably, so it already started to get dark and cold and somehow the gentle light and the warmth radiating from the wax seemed so magical to me. They let you pick a wick and you could dip your own candles. They helped me of course as I was a small child. I still remember how slowly more and more people came to try their hands at candle making, children and adults alike, just there in the midst of a dark and cold park. I was so proud of the candle I made.
We make and sell bayberry candles with a 50/50 beeswax blend on our farm in Massachusetts. They have a light green color and a BEAUTIFUL nostalgic aroma from the bayberry. Same methods. Once you get the technique down it's a nice, relaxing thing to do on a Sunday.
Hello @TheHonestPeanut. Do you sell online? I would love to try one of your bayberry candles.
Ditto.
How much wax can you get from bay berries? I've often wondered.
I second the request for an online store location. Christmas is around the corner, and my wife loves candles. It's a great gift idea for all the husbands out there, because no woman can EVER have too many candles.
Yankee candle made me fall really hard in love with "bayberry". I hope that's a similar fragrance. 🥰I don't know what the actual natural fragrance of bayberry is like, but I'm assuming it's better
After I made the happy discovery that any impurities sink to the very bottom (like leftover soot and whatever), I started saving and collecting used candle wax from my friends, especially if they had an event with lots of little candles. Just chuck it all in a pot, melt it all together (mine are mostly paraffin, with some beeswax for scent and color) and dip away. I used to sort of carve the soot out and only use the "pure" wax, but you just don't have to. It's very nice to have homemade candles, especially since they're so expensive to buy! Awesome episode!
My mom foes this as well, she has several different molds so she has extra fun with it.
For the working class people in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries,
the candles were mostly tallow with just enough beeswax added to
' stiffen ' the candles and prevent them from sagging in hot weather.
To conceal the smell of the tallow, a few drops of mint oil, rose oil, or
lemon/orange oil were added to provide a much more pleasant aroma.
If a person was short of beeswax, you could make the candles out of
tallow, and then simply dip them in melted beeswax to provide a harder
outer coating.
Very interesting -- thanks for sharing that. I should have read more comments before posting my question about blending of candle materials.
During the 1940s and 1950s, candle making was a history class project in our local high school. Two reasons: 1.) To teach a history lesson. 2.) There were still shortages from WW2 and candles might be needed (some items were still rationed in some places until 1954) It was also taught how waxes and tallow could safely be obtained locally if needed.
You are from England then?
@@debbralehrman5957 Canada, the USA, Australia, and others did the same thing. We were all in it, all supported each other, and shared the shortages. You must remember that the world was not only coming off war, we were also still trying to recover from the world-wide depression. There was an almost continuous string from WW1 to depression to WW2 that made it tough for everyone. Things were so bad in the USA during those times that it was rare to see cars on the roads, animals in the wild because they were hunted for food, and if there were cars in an area, all of the fresh road kill was picked up, examined, and cooked by someone.
@@jerryodell1168 I just asked because it was only in recent years that I realized how much after WW2
Britain was still rationing. Which suprised me because I am usually aware of modern history. It was not my intent to be rude or disrespectful. Sorry if I offended.🙁
We should have that in history classes today!
@@debbralehrman5957 We had to feed most of europe after the War as well as ourselves in Britain and that is why rationing lasted so long.
You make me love history even more than I do, been watching you for almost over five years and still amazes me thank you
My grandma was into historical reenactment, and taught me about historical candle making and toy making. Thank you for reminding me of her today ❤️
I have some deer tallow/suet candles that I made last winter that give off no smell at all. You have to boil the rendered tallow in several changes of water though to get a clean product though. I have a couple of antique candle moulds - a 10 barrel and a 16 barrel - that I'm going to try out this year. Awesome video!
My daughter made dipping candles in the 2nd grade. That was in the late 70s, I still have those candles.
I used mine in the back yard IN my home made tint around 1972😂
Sunday morning with Townsends. Best way to enjoy the morning cuppa. ☕️
I prefer breakfast with the Beatles but this is a close second.
This immediately reminded me of "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. One of my favorite books in the series since it talked about how things were made.
Magnificent! I love seeing things filmed in the workshop! This was so fun! Thank you Townsends team! 🙂✨
A candle 🕯️. A light of Hope. That's what I need now in my life more that ever! For to survive this period of my life and this Winter.
True story. I used to work at a steel mill, and one of the things you can do to reduce roll wear, is to oil the rolls rolling out the steel (reduces surface friction).
The oil used is animal fat. So the entire mill smelled like rancid bacon grease. Smelled both tasty and disgusting at the same time. So i feel you on tallow candles.
One side benefit of tallow candles, is you CAN eat them if you run out of food. Will taste revolting, but fat is fat when you are starving.
Absolutely fascinating, Jon. And oddly relaxing, too. I love Beeswax. Many years ago, I worked in one of my town's museums, which is a huge Elizabethan mansion, on the edge of a vast park, in the centre of town. It's displays are in rooms, each depicting a different era. On the rear of the mansion, there is a whole Tudor house, which was rescued from demolition, and moved, whole, to the site, and married seamlessly to the mansion - this was in the 1920's.
The upstairs floor of this house had a floor of oak boards, which due to their undulating nature, had to be polished by hand - the rotary polisher would have just ripped them to bits.
They were polished using a large block of beeswax and soft cloths. It took ages, but I loved doing it. For the rest of the day, one smelled pleasantly of beeswax, and the great payoff was seeing visitors - some of whom were astonished that it was done by hand - remark on the floor and the fragrant odour.
You’re one of my MOST favorite people to watch! I love history!
That was great Jon, love the smell of the Bee's Wax Candles and there are several uses for the left over bee's wax around the shop for tool maintenance.
Thanks for sharing with us, Fred.
Been following for a decade +, and have made candles this exact way-it works 🙌🏻 Thanks for making your brilliant content. It has taught me so much. God Bless
Get over to the UK, Blists Hill working museum in Telford, Shropshire.
The candle makers are brilliant.
Great fun for anyone as you have to change over modern money to Victorian money.
Even for us Brits it can be confusing.
And a pub.
I went many times as a child and several times since then too! They have a proper rotating candle dipping apparatus you can watch in action, and on school trips you get to dip your own and take it home- I've still got my two to this day 😅. It always smells strongly in there, although not of meat or particularly animal-ly. You don't have to change over your money at the bank, although it is fun to do. And there's a great deal more there than just the pub (when I was going there on school trips the pub wasn't there yet, and I'm only in my 20s!).
I want to see you do a video on books and book stores in the 1700's. You should talk about where the average person bought books back then, how many books people typically had in their house, and what kind of books they typically had. I'm curious about this because you cook recipes from so many old cookbooks from back then and it makes me wonder how common or uncommon it was for average people to have those cookbooks, or if only rich elites had them. How many people, especially women, even knew how to read back then and what were the schools and education like in the colonies?
As for the books, I can’t answer that but in my college history class, there were more literate women and poor people in the colonies than in England.
@@kimberlycockram1894 I just wondered what kind of cookbooks the average person in the colonies were using and where they would've gotten them from, since John uses so many of those cookbooks for this channel. I wonder how realistic it is that a lot of people back then would've been using those books too.
@@Melissa0774cookbooks used repeated similar instructions with limited vocabulary, so I assume that many people could use them.
Much of the writing from that time that we read has complicated syntax and wide vocabulary. There were snobs then just as now.
Yes and if there were libraries and what they would be like then!
@ yes there were libraries were good and some not so good. Some people had some books and some people had few or none. Just like it is now.
7:05 I'm surprised you don't just use two longer wires running lengthwise to take up less room. Could also have simple notches on the rim for easy wire placement
details, details... you've mentioned two sensible refinements for the moulds and also the technique. Thank you!
Every time I watch a video from this channel, I look for the subscribe button, only to find that I’ve already been subscribed for years. Great videos. Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us!
Great video! When I was a child we often poured candles. We used old coke bottles as molds (had to carefully break them), often using different colored wax. Fond memories.
Something of a lost art was the paper milk carton candles my dad and I made when I was young. The mold was a cleaned milk carton. You poured liquid red or green dyed paraffin over cracked ice in the carton and the wick. Then set it. The candle came out with an amazing Swiss Cheese texture. Don't think those cartons are made anymore and I am guessing plastic is unsuitable.
They are.
I remember doing that. To do it today I suppose you'd have to also make a waxed cardboard box, or use a tapered reusable mold.
@patricialavery8270 My mom made milk carton candles like these and they did look like swiss cheese. 😄 I think she also melted crayons separately and then poured in the melted crayon colors along with the clear/whitish wax to give a marbled type of design. 🤩
My favorite channel by far!
I did not realize how precious and expensive candles were then I watched Candleford on Masterpiece Theatre with Dame Judith Dench. The young new doctor needed to preform emergency surgery at night and the whole community donated candles which they really could not afford to give but did.
Wonderful, thank you for revisiting this topic again Townsends. A candle and or firemaking video always warms my day.
One of the finest RUclips channels! Thank you for another amazing production!
We make about 1000 beeswax candles (almost) every year for Moravian church Christmas services in our area.
We use custom made 10' taper molds similar to ones you have with 100% beeswax. We use a sponge under the bottom of the mold during pouring to stop the wax from getting out, and when we tie the wicks at the top, we use a wooden block sized to the molds which have 12 candles total. We typically use a heat gun to help loosen the candles a bit after they're solidified (but are still warm) to help get them loose. Using the wooden block on top as a handle allows us to pull all of the candles out at once, where they are then hung to cool off. After that we trim the ends and hand polish to give them a nice sheen.
my teacher in 2nd grade, Mrs. Asher, taught us how to make dipped candles. She also taught us how to make butter from raw milk with an old school butter churn. They are lessons I remember, and often think about to this day. I'm not sure schools would allow kids, especially 2nd graders, to work with hot wax these days.
Even if you are using a mould to make candles, you may still find it necessary to use the dip method if only to make tapers.
A taper is a very thin candle used, in the absence of matches, to light other candles. Generally they are no thicker than modern birthday cake candles but much longer. Very useful if you want to light more than a couple of candles.
Another useful piece of equipment is the candle extinguisher or candle snuffer. It consists of a small cone at the end of a handle. In this context it is a different instrument from a candle wick trimmer which can also be called a 'snuffer' but serves an entirely different purpose.
The use of a snuffer helps to avoid problems associated with blowing hot wax and it avoids the smoke and odour of a smouldering wick which results from simply blowing a candle out. Extinguishers are still commonly used in homes and churches.
Sometimes the handle of the snuffer can be three or four feet long and the cone has a holder for a taper. This is how you light and extinguish candles on a chandelier (or those tall candles found in some religious settings).
I wonder if the truly poor ever made candles in sand molds? In our art class we created designs in damp sand, attached wicks and poured the wax. It is not a true sand casting (the kind where the sand sticks to the candle), but was so much fun for all of us.
I remember making sand candles in Girl Scouts. We'd gather shells, twigs, acorns, pine cones, and a flat rock as the base to lay in the sand first, set the wicks, and then pour the wax. Mine was in the curio cabinet for years.
I love the process of candlemaking. It reminds me of How It's Made
Another fantastic, wholesome video.
I've made candles using both methods. The molds we used were hinged, made it much easier to remove the candles. It's been decades since I did it, I remember keeping the mold cold until the wax was poured in so the wax would immediately solidify and not leak out everywhere.
I really enjoy learning all the skills that the vast majority of Americans have forgotten. Thank you for your content.
Thanks for this. I recently just participated in my first living history event. At my table I was stationed to I had a display for soap and candle making. Soap was right up my alley as I already make soap. I've been wanting to get into candle making and had just purchased some books on candle making that I hadn't had time prior to the event to sit down and read. I was able to tell a little bit about the process with my limited knowledge. This just helped fill in the gaps. I'm hoping to be making my own candles before my next event. 😊
This is so darn satisfying to watch, especially seeing the girth of the taper expand. I bet you could add smelly oils to the wax itself, or perhaps dunk the candle in the wax, let it cool a moment, then dunk into the sweet oil to make a scent candle
I used to make tallow candles and they smelled like meat cooking when they burned, very pleasant smell. I have a tin, round shaped candle box with a hinged lid and small clasp closure to keep mice out of the candles hanging on the wall. At the end of the evening, all of the candles needed to be stored in the candle box . I believe I may have bought the candle box from you folks. I taught1840 life skills for many years and absolutely loved every minute of it!!!
I remember making candles back in the mid 80's in grade school. We dipped, then walked back in line to do it all again. It was a great time.
Many many years ago when I was a kid, I attended a history camp at Fort Nisqually in Washington. One of the activities we did was candle making using the dip method. This video was very nostalgic for me!
Yes! Thank you for making this video, I’ve been extremely interested in candles and have been making my own using rendered oil.
It was delightful to see the Nutmeg Tavern
all aglow on Friday. Thanks for sharing your
Expertise in this area. Thanks Jon and Crew. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🕯🕯🕯🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🦃
This is one of my favorite kind of videos, the kind that sends me looking up more on the topic. So checking the Wikipedia article on candles, and it says their modern era with the self trimming pleated and treated wick started 1825 with several patents. This exceeds the channels time range a bit, so I'm sorry, we are all going to have to use inferior candles for authenticity.
Also, interesting to think that candles existed for so long without these relatively simple innovations. Makes me wonder what items we are going that with now.
I've been playing this game called kingdom come: deliverance that is set in the medieval times, I now love to watch this content! Big ups!
I make tallow for soaps, and moisturizers. Cook down your beef fat and strain it well, using cheesecloth. If you add about 3 teaspoons of salt to your strained tallow and use an immersion blender to mix in a cup of water and put it in the fridge to separate, after a couple of times, the salt removes any cooked meat smell from your tallow. My tallow comes out pure white with no smell. I use 1/4 tallow or lard to 2/3 beeswax for a candle.
0:52 that guy REALLY wants to show off his candle
I love these 18th century videos on the technology or the chores of the day, like the laundry video and this one. Oh, and the video on letters!
I really enjoy your videos, when I have time to watch them.
Super interesting! I've always wondered how candles were made. I, for some strange reason, imagined it'd be much more complicated.
The wick is more complicated than the candle itself.
Your old video about making candles was how I originally discovered this channel. I feel like I've come full circle on my Townsends journey 😊
I have half a memory of reading an account of candle making at home, and they tied some kind of small weight (lead maybe?) to the ends of the wicks, to keep them straight for the first few dips, then snipped them off once the wax had built up a little.
What a very enlightening episode on making candles. Cheers!
The development of the wick is surprisingly involved. You'd assume it was a solved issue for a long time, but wicks were still being improved on right up until the advent of the electric light. We'd probably still be improving on them now, if we kept using candles and oil lamps as our primary light source.
Interesting, always good to see how things used to be made in the past, I was expecially intrigued by the bit about the wicks having to be cut regularly. Got to say though, I'd like to see the channel make a tallow candle that most of the population would've used in those times, rather than the beeswax ones.
I was a chandler at Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum back in the late 1970s and 80s. I made three kinds of candles there, Spermaceti (until it became illegal), beeswax and bayberry. I used molds of various sizes and I also dipped candles in large quantities. Concerning the molds, I never used clay to stop the ends from leaking out wax, I always tied a knot, and pulled the wick up firmly and tied it on the cross bar. Always worked very well and still does. One just must use the correct wick size for the mold and candle size. I still make candles, using antique molds and dipping.
Thanks for all the amazing videos and epic content!!
Good video. I've been making traditional and custom candles for 35 years, there is a lot to know if you want to have it as a hobby or a business. There are great books out there with valuable information so your candle making experience won't be disappointing.
Love this episode. Candlemaking was popular in the 60s and 70s and we used just about anything for molds.
This is awesome. Brings back memories of 5th grade field trip to a California Missionary. We walked in a circle taking turns dipping the string into hot wax.
My great grandmother taught me how to make candles and soap from animal fats and oils.
She must-have been old! Do you know what year she was born?
@atherwitch no, honestly I don't know. I know she was 1/2 Cherokee Native American, and she taught me some of our tribe's language and traditions, and even how to sing songs in our tribe's native language. She lived through the great depression and my great grandfather was a moonshiner. That's actually how my grandmother, their daughter, met my grandfather. My grandfather had just been discharged from the army after ww2 and couldn't find a job so he became my great grandfather's apprentice in running Tennessee moonshine. One night the police started chasing them so they had to ditch their cargo and head home through the woods. They didn't make any money that night, so my great grandfather took my grandfather home with him to eat supper as payment for his services. While there, my grandfather became acquainted with my grandmother. The rest is history.
Very interesting video. It shows how time consuming candlemaking could be if you didn't have some tools to help. Also, tallow candles *were* popular - because they were much cheaper and easier to get than superior beeswax ones. Also also - there were candle clocks in use - basically candles of set size, that were marked on the side with notches indicating how many hours passed since candle was lit.
And courtship candles!
My family visited Colonial Williamsburg when I was a kid. I surprise myself sometimes with memories that come back to me, though it was 60 years ago. I remember the interesting smells of the Apothecary shop, and seeing how candles were made, bonnets were trimmed, and metals wrought. We didn't take the inside tour of the Governor's mansion, but we did walk around the gardens and lose ourselves in the maze.
I use your tin mold for beeswax (and love it) but I also make "candles" with Crisco and stiff wicks in quart canning jars. Put the wick in upside down and snip off the silver tab. They don't stink while they're burning but only for a bit when they're put out.
Have some friends that did candle making @ the Rendezvous. Thanks for sharing
I recently purchased the candle making kit from you. I’m excited to try it out.
Here in Williamsburg, Va they make bayberry candles. I love candle making, so interesting! This was a good video! Thank you.
I work at a furnishing store and often have to replace broken candles that customers bring in. We throw them in the trash anyway, so my boss gave me permission to sometimes take home one or two where I recycle them into camping tea lights. Therefore I break them up further, remove the wick and cut it into smaller trims which I clamp into those wick holders from the bottoms of tea lights and whenever I empty another box of mints I put two or three of those wick trims into the bottom of the tin box and melt some wax into it. And when I go camping or on a picknick I have some pocket sized romantic candle light with me. 😅
But now I remember there's still several pounds of paraffin wax lying in my cupboard and I'm really thinking about buying or making a candle mold for some proper candle light dinner.
Back in elementary school it was a winter tradition to go make candles at a local place with the entire class. Good times
Hey John, could you guys do a video on 18th century toilets/plumbing? As a new father who is trying to potty train my child, I couldn’t help but wonder about how people did their business in the 18th century- whether be in towns or on the homestead. Thank you.
You might enjoy this ruclips.net/user/liveKwZkJunAglw?feature=share
If you let the wax cool in the cup, to the point it just starts to form a skin, before you poor it into the mold, it will prevent the wax sticking to the mold, and the wax will usually shrink away from the mold instead of cupping the bottom of the candles.
Cooled off beeswax can be rubbed between your fingers and then use to plug those small holes the wicks come through instead of using clay. Cutting the candles on the other end then trimming off the squares is really not a big deal and it makes sure that all of the candle mold barrels actually fill up with the wax. When removing the candles, a simple thing to do if the candle is stuck, is use a hair dryer to blow medium hot air on the barrel of one; then pull it out and do the next one. As long as you don't heat it up too hot, they come out nice and smooth with very little effort.
Dry graphite spray might be a useful release agent. Looks like black spray paint when wet but it dries quickly and shouldn't dissolve in the wax. Also, candles used to be pretty expensive and a lot of people back then relied on rush lights which were a poor-man's candle. Though the plant might've been limited to the UK area.
My favorite part of the state fair - ladies dressed in colonial clothes dipping bayberry candles.
Reminds me of the four seasons that Michigan's Heritage Park was open. We made candles in the settlers' cabin on a regular basis.
Great Video. You could have also mentioned that the braided v-wicks are directional. Also that there are different size wicks for different diameter candles.
I did a candle dipping craft project at a summer camp once. We used a tub of water to cool the candles between dips to speed up the process
Such a beautifully done video, I love the atmosphere. I'm going to buy some wicks now
Very nice video. Candle making is an art all on its own.
'Dip' candles go faster if you keep a pot of cold water nearby. After each wax dip, lowering them into the cold water firms them up faster and allows for a thicker coat with each dip in the wax. Using a 'Follower' or 'Candle Thimble' would ensure all the wax burned and didn't just drool down the side of your taper, shortening the life of the candle and making a hard to clean mess...
Tallow candle wax melted faster than beeswax and so required the use of scissor style wick trimmers. About every ten minutes or so wicks needed trimming to reduce black soot from floating in air and depositing on white table cloths etc. The scissor shape snuffers had 4 features: wick trimmer, flame snuffer, tip of blade forms wax rivulets for proper dripping and on some trimmers on finger holes to scrape wax drippings for remelting.
I love candles 😊
LOOOOOOL I need new glasses. I read that title as candies, and was confused for a full 5 minutes waiting for us to talk about candies, till I rechecked the title.
I have learned something new for this lesson! Townsend's always has interesting content! David Back.
Great video! I would love to see the front end of this process as well. The tallow making and wax making. That feels like the hard bit of the process.
I keep bees in backyard hives and collect the beeswax. I render it in a solar oven to strain out impurities like pollen, dead bee parts, etc. Then I use the clean wax to make candles, especially for gift giving.
The second method reminds me of how Moravian Lovefeast candles are made in Old Salem. Place a little bowed wrapping on the bottom of the candle and you can hold it for a few minutes without getting dripped on, unlike a parrafin candle. Plus, the beeswax is recyclable 😀!
Love it, I do re-use glass from parfumed candles, filling it again with beeswax but I tried to add scent to them as well although not much of a success! So would be interesting to see if back then they made candles with scent as well and how to properly make it at home, ideally using natural products.
I worked at a candle factory and we made stick candles on a continuous drawing machine with big drum rollers at each end. The wick was drawn thought a wax bath and immediately through a graduated forming die... each revolution a bigger diameter until desired thickness was met.
If anyone is having a problem understanding why the 19th century wick design is self trimming, a candle flame is hottest on the outside where the vaporized wax comes into contact with fresh oxygen, the inside of the flame is basically hollow, just hot wax vapor that's not burning. When the charred wick is standing straight up it's not hot enough to burn it to ash and there's not enough oxygen available and so it smokes and smolders. The woven wick curls off to the side as it burns, which allows it to reach the hottest part of the flame and the outside oxygen causing the leftover carbon, all that remains of the natural fibers, to burn away.
Sorry, one more comment:
It's interesting that you mentioned the old candle wicks standing up straight and getting too hot. I've been on several tours of old colonial-era houses, where a "wick trimmer" is a common implement. I've always wondered why those were so common back then.
That certainly explains it, as trimming the wick would help to mitigate this problem. This is also good to know if I make my own candles in the future.
I made a candle when I was a kid on a field trip to a historical recreation site. I think I still have it somewhere. I remember it smelled really good.
Thank you for the refresher.
we used to have a second bucket with water to dip them in the water to cool them off quickly
Always was interested in candle making thank you !😊
The reason why tin or brass molds were (and are) still preferred is because of thermal transfer; allowing that outer layer of wax to cool rapidly, reducing shrinkage but also causing easier release of the wax from the mold - thus no need for any mold release help like sprays. Sometimes the older ways and products are superior to newer things - its worth the time finding a brass/tin mold or manufacturing one (tin and brass tubes, sheet, and stock are readily available from manufacturers like K&S Precision Metals). Stainless steel is just the wrong material for the mold.
Very cool video! I love reading by candlelight, but the candles go fast and they can be expensive. I'll have to try making them some day, thanks for the education and the inspiration!
Stearine, a byproduct of making lard oil, was also used for making candles.
stearin forms an outer sheath the entire height of the candle with a parrafin core. the stearin burns at a MUCH higher temp than parrafin. with these candles, the parrafin and wick burn down and then the stearin burns. these are the smokeless and dripless candles of the modern world.