Bacon Grease Candle
Each time I pour the bacon grease from the pan into the mug that sits on the counter to collect the grease I say to my siblings, “I’m going to make a candle.” Their response is usually a mixture of “eww!” and laughter. Well, I finally did it!
I started out by looking on Pinterest to see if it was actually possible to make one just by dumping the grease in a jar with a wick. Sure enough, it is! The article I read included friends to eat all the bacon made as an integral step in the process. My brother and I both thought that was funny, but also a bit backward. Who makes bacon for the sake of producing grease?
Anyway, after learning this was indeed possible to make, the only thing I needed was a wick. I looked on YouTube for a diy candle wick and came across this video which used cotton thread dipped in melted wax. My next task was to rummage through the kitchen drawers until I found old birthday candles. As I was searching I yelled, “Does anyone know where the little candles are? Like the birthday ones?” No one knew, but once I explained what I needed them for, my brothers offered me their beeswax that they use for waxing their bow strings. Here’s where the story gets lit: I cut two pieces of cotton yarn, left one as is, and coated one in beeswax. The former burned quickly while the latter burned significantly slower.
After having a usable wick option, I grabbed the rest of the ingredients and begged John to film the process, which he agreed to do if I gave him a lighter. It took two attempts and much criticism of my “cringey” intro from my YouTube addict younger siblings before the intro was passable. The rest of the process is outlined in this video, but I shall continue the narration for the more literary inclined.
Materials I used for candle making.
I cut the cotton yarn, tied one end to the soda tab, and coated them in beeswax. This was so gross! After that I placed them in the little jars. Next, I heated up the bacon grease that has been collecting little by little in the mugs on the counter.
The simple way to say the next step would be, “Then I poured the bacon grease into the jars.” But of course that is not what happened. In an effort to not lose the wick, and not burn my hand, I poured the grease too slowly, so it ran along the outside of the pot and spilled on the counter. Of course John, Nathan, and Jane were there to accompany me through my moment of trial by saying how stupid I am and telling me how I should do it. I decided to spoon the grease out bit by bit into the teeniest jars, then quickly dump it in the big one and hope not to burn my hand. This plan worked out alright. I think the hot grease started melting the beeswax because the wicks were not standing straight up anymore, so I put spoons on the jars to drape them over. I wanted to move the big jar to the fridge so it would cool faster. Upon picking it up and moving too quickly, some of it spilt on the floor. Thankfully the dog was there to lick it up.
While waiting for the candles to cool, we looked through the video clips and laughed at ourselves. There were several times when people heard themselves screeching or what not in the background (background being behind the camera) and said, “Oh! I didn’t know you were filming at that time! Edit that out!” To which I could only reply, “I have no idea how to do that!” So the video that you get has a lot of background noise and is poor quality, but just pretend that we are going for a diy video aesthetic.
After an hour and 15 minutes, I took the big candle out of the fridge, trimmed the wick, and lit it. I thought it would be funny to stage a picture of it on the mantle where my mom puts other candles and vases, so I did and it has remained there ever since.
