Aprons and candles

We've had a busy few days. We went to see my lovely Mum's new house in  Kent. Its  a fabulous 1930's semidetached house. The previous owners had had it for a very long time and there is a feeling of history there. Lots of original character remain - the original doors ( not painted!) with bakerlite handles. The garden still has its original structure and  there is plenty of room to grow vegetables. There is even a cupboard- just for the lawn mower!


The wonderful Mrs Thomasina Tittlemousee has been busy making long victorian type aprons and kindly offered to give several away and I was one of the very lucky ones to receive one !. Its beautifully made and the colours are perfect! and would have been just what I would have chosen. I am soooo delighted with my gift and hope to post a picture soon of me wearing it!. For now I am enjoying admiring it. Apologies for the quality of the photos- they don't really do the apron justice.

Today has been a day for in the garden , making the most of the lovely sunshine. I sorted the greenhouse which had been badly neglected, removing side branches on the tomato plants and generally  tidying. I was delighted to see that I have several green peppers , a couple of chillies and one or two tomatoes growing. This was a lovely surprise considering the  severe lack of attention they had received.

 I also found that we had a number of rather wonky citronella candles left over from last year and me hating waste decided that I could perhaps make some new candles using the wax and wick from these and some old china cups and bowls.

I melted the candles  over a bain maire- ( a pan over a pan of hot water) .

 Once the wax had melted I removed the wick  and cut to the desired length. I then used a peg and stick to balance the wick over the centre of the cup or bowl.

 I poured in the hot wax and left it to cool.

Tips:


1. I removed as much of the black bits as I could from each candle with a knife in a scraping type action, a bit like peeling potatoes.
2. Make sure you cut the wick long enough to be suspended from the peg.
3. Put  newspaper down where you will be working but most importantly where you will be pouring the wax. As it makes a bit of a mess when you pour.
4. Melt the wax over a low to medium heat. ( in fact once the wax started to melt I turned the heat right down)
5. Most importantly the wax is hot - so handle carefully- it can be inflammable!
6. NEVER  ever leave a lit candle unattended.

 So I'm on a roll now and will probably make some more tomorrow!