I’m a woman who loves beautiful things, but not at an extra cost (if I can avoid it!). I have a ton of glass votives and they are all soot filled with wax, ranging from 1/4 inch -1 inch full of wax. I could be completely lazy and materialistic and toss the old and go buy myself new ones, but I don’t feel right in my soul to waste these perfectly beautiful pieces of glass for my laziness. So then I went googling and found this..
1. Put them in the Freezer
DISCLAIMER:he FREEZER METHOD DOES NOT WORK IF YOU HAVE A VOTIVE WITH A GLUED WICK. If your wick is glued to the bottom of the votive then this is what you get as a result… a mess. Time to move on…
2.Put it in hot water ~ I was worried about what this hot water method would do to my pots, but to be honest…. I placed the votives in the pot, in the sink, and filled it with super hot tap water.
After 5 minutes I could remove the votives from the pan and easily scoop out the wax. Finish washing out residue with soapy hot water. **NOTE** Do not use boiling water. Why? Well, 1) you risk the glass shattering under the extreme temperature, and 2) you do not want to melt the wax, just soften it enough to scoop it out. If you melt the wax to a liquid state in your boiling water and then dump it down the drain, you will end up with a clogged drain.
3.Put it in the Oven:
Line a baking sheet with foil making sure the edges of the pan is covered. Turn the votives upside down on the foil. Place the baking sheet in the oven and turn it on to 200 degrees. In about 15 minutes all the wax will be melted out. Remove each votive with a hot pad and wipe out the remaining wax with paper towel, then wash with soapy water if needed. This oven method worked fine, but I didn’t like the strong smell it left in my kitchen and I was using non-scented wax.
