Can You Handle The Candle?

By BR Kellie 

Recently I had the joy of experiencing a power outage. Not a short one mind, not the longest either, but it lasted a respectable seven odd hours from around 4pm to 11pm. Of course as it was autumn I had to get out all the candles so the little human and I could well… sit on the couch wondering what the heck to do with ourselves. (Side note – there’s only so many times you can hear ‘maybe we should try turn the tv on again’ after explaining the concept of power over and over again before you start to feel insanity creeping in.) 

Now I like to think I'm pretty good with my candle safety, however as the hours ticked along, and the candles burnt low, and the hardened wax became melted pools... well, I had a wee accident... and it got me thinking that perhaps a little refresher candle safety course might be needed. And I figured why not bring you, my beauties, along for the ride.

So what candle safety tips do we need to know to keep up safe and sound?

The most obvious rule to candle safety is to follow the instructions that come with the candle… assuming of course there are some. The majority of my candles have burning information on a sticker on the bottom of the pack they come in. This isn't the case with all of them, in which case it probably pays to employ common sense and enquire directly with the maker in case the candle has any quirks. For example, some of my candles don't mention burn time, but one says to only burn it for two hours at a time, another says it can burn for a maximum of four hours. I don't want to know what will happen if I go longer...

The basics I can glean from the information on candles I own are:

• Don't leave a candle unattended.
• Don't burn your candle near anything that can catch fire - think books, paper, curtains, table cloths... you get the picture.
• Keep candles out of the reach of children. Or any creature that has the ability to knock it over.
• Be sure to burn the candle on a level fire-resistant surface.
• Before lighting trim the wick to 5mm (this prevents the wick flaring).
• Don't go to sleep with a candle burning.

So that's the basics... but is there anything else we should keep in mind when burning our beloved light-bringers?

You know how you’re not meant to run with scissors or knives? Well the same can be said with candles when the wax is at the melted searingly hot stage. In fact don’t even walk with them. Leave them where they are until the wax has hardened, then move them.

When blowing out the candle, it’s better to use a snuffer than your lips. Reason why? I learnt this the hardway... you see once power resumed at my home after the recent outage, I went around blowing out the candles only to have a flaming hot piece of wick fly up to and onto my lower lip. The pain was real. The gnarly sore little red blister I sported the next day was also ugly. Hence why snuffers are better. Also, using a snuffer will reduce the chance of hot wax splattering over you or someone in the close vicinity.

Another snuffing tip? Don't use water. If the idea of being splatter by wax doesn't freak you out enough, then imagine cold water being added to hot glass... that's a smashingly bad tie. Speaking of which... this next tip comes from BR Nat...

If you plan on repurposing a candle, don’t freeze the jar so you can knock out the remaining wax and then immediately run the jar under the hot tap to clean. As poor Nat learnt, this leads to shattering of the glass and a scar that remains to this day.

So there you have it - our candle safety round-up. Have we missed anything? Be sure to tell us!