Making Sand Candles
By Donald Yadusky
June, 2004
In the 1970’s when our children were young we often went to the beach and mad sand candles. We would bring a small, jellied alcohol stove to the beach and, in an old aluminum pot, melt old candles and wax. We would dig a hole in the moist sand under the outer layer of dry sand and pour the wax into the hole. We would put strings in the hole for the wicks and hold the strings until the candle hardened or tie the strings to a stick placed over the hole to hold the wicks. When the candle hardened it could be lifted from the hole and, while still soft, shells could be pressed into the wax.
The candles would retain a layer of sand on the outside surface and could be made in free flowing shapes by altering the shape of the hole into which we poured the wax. Sand candles were a fad at the beach and were on sale in some of the local stores, usually at an expensive price.
One weekend we brought about two dozen sand candles to a local flea market to sell but, unfortunately, the sun began to soften and melt them and we had to abandon our plan to merchandise sand candles. All of the candles were very creative and we had fun making them. It proved how practical we were. We couldn’t just “waste” time at the beach; we had to multi-task. We also enjoyed the nautical touch sand candles added to our home.
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