November 2020 - Stir the Cauldron

November 29, 2020November 29, 2020

Candles Revisited

In our household we burn about 100 candles a year. That seems like a lot, but we burn 5 in our living room each evening. Each candle lasts for 5 evenings. That works out at one candle a day from before Samhain (late October) to after Imbolc (early February).

I make my own candles. I pour them into glass jars. The jars are manufactured as single-use food containers. They are heat-proof to stand sterilization for food use. I can re-use them many times. The candle flame is visible as the candle burns down. There’s no dribbly wax down the sides of candlesticks, or over tables or floors. The fire is as controlled, as much as fire can ever be controlled.

As well as making candles for our own use, I make some as gifts. The number of candles that I make at any one time is increasing as I get more practice. At the moment each batch is about 15 candles. During the Winter months I’m going to be making candles once a fortnight.

Here’s my routine for making 4 scented candles, and 10 (or slightly more) unscented ones.

Melting the wax

My first task is to set up a supply of molten wax. Each of my candles will contain 100-125g of wax. Most are nearer 125g. If I’m aiming to produce up to 16 candles, I’ll need nearly 2Kg of wax. I’ve tried using beeswax, in part because I still have a supply from when I kept bees. Beeswax on its own in a container it quite hard and burns a little too hot. Soya wax, on the other hand, burns well but is a little soft. I blend Soya wax with about 10% beeswax as the basis of my candles, and I like the way they burn and smell.

There are various ways of setting up a supply of molten wax. For smaller quantities, you can put the wax over water in a double-boiler and heat it on the top of the stove. (It’s not advisable to heat wax directly, especially over an open flame. The reason we use wax to make candles is that it is flammable!) An alternative is to put the wax in a pot in a low oven (maybe 70C). That works, but it takes a long time to melt 2Kg of wax.

I thought that I would melt enough wax in a year to justify investigating purpose-made wax-melters. Most of the wax-melters available commercially are aimed at commercial candle producers. They would melt my year’s supply of wax, or more, in one go. I found a smaller version with a capacity of about 4 Kg of wax on eBay, from a seller in the US. It’s a crock-pot that has been modified by fitting a tap to run off the molten wax. I need a 220V to 110V transformer to operate it, but it works very well. It takes about 10 minutes to melt each 1Kg of wax.

While the wax melts, I warm the jugs I will use for filling the candle containers. I use two. One is a Pyrex jug with a capacity of 500ml. I use that one to fill 4 scented candles. I use the other jug for pouring “ordinary” candles. The second one is made of stainless steel. It has a long lip for directing the wax into the containers. I put at least one stirring rod in one of the jugs, so the stirring rod gets warm too.

Fixing the candle wicks

I buy pre-cut candle wicks with the sustainers already attached. (Sustainers are small, circular metal clips that grip the wick so it can be fixed to the bottom of a container.) I’ve tried using the double-sided sticky pads sold for fixing candle wicks, but it’s almost impossible to remove the residue when the candle is burnt out. I like to re-use my containers, so now I use hotmelt glue.
My trick for positioning the wick is to put half a drinking straw around the wick.

The straw is rigid enough for me to be able to press the sustainer against the base of the container while the glue sets. I can hold the container upside down and see the wick is central as I bring the surfaces together. (Yes, that is a plastic drinking straw. We had a few left over when we made the switch to paper ones for drinks a few years ago. I’m using them for candles before disposing them responsibly.)

When the glue has had a chance to set, I test each wick by using it to lift the container. I also make sure I have prepared a few spare containers with wicks. It’s not unusual for 2 or 3 wicks in a batch of 15 to come unstuck, and I want to use all the wax I’ve prepared.

Purpose-made wick holders, and cocktail sticks

With the wicks glued in place, it’s time to fix the wick so it is held centrally in the container. I have some plastic clips for the purpose, and a few metal ones. Sprung clothes pegs can work, but aren’t so good if the top of the container is less than 6cm across. (The clothes peg reduces the gap through which you will pour wax). You can use two cocktail sticks with small elastic bands to hold them together each side of the wick. Orthodontic bands or loom bands work well.

Cooling the wax for pouring

I use an infra-red thermometer to check the temperature of wax and the oven. It’s cleaner than using the type of thermometer that has to be dipped into a liquid. There’s little difference in price.

When all the wax is melted, I check the temperature. Soy wax melts at around 50C. Beeswax melts at around 60C. By the time it is all melted, it’s normally at about 70C. That’s too hot for pouring into the containers. The most obvious reason is that the hotmelt glue will melt at that temperature, and the wicks will come adrift. Another reason is that the hotter the wax, the more it will shrink as it sets. If it’s too hot, it pulls away from the sides of the containers leaving unsightly cavities.

If the wax for scented candles is too hot, any essential oils that are added to it will cook off. This significantly reduces the extent to which a scented candle ends up being scented.

I pour (or scoop) 300-400ml of wax into my stainless-steel jug. I check the temperature and put it on one side. I’ll pour this wax into containers when the temperature is 50C or less, and the wax is just starting to go misty.

I take the second jug out of the oven, and check the oven temperature. The control on my oven is labelled OFF—0—100C at the lower temperature range, so it’s difficult to set it to a temperature below 100C with any accuracy. Using a thermometer to help me, I aim to get the temperature as near 50C as possible.

The second jug is for the scented candles. I put a small amount of wax dye in this jug (about 4g), enough to just tint the wax. Then I top up the jug with between 450ml and 500ml of molten wax. I stir it to distribute the dye, then put it alongside the first jug of wax to cool to around 50C. Meanwhile I measure out 25-30ml of my chosen essential oil or blend of oils.

Pouring the candles

When the plain wax cools to 50C and starts to mist a little, I start to pour it into the containers. I fill containers to a depth of no more than 2cm, reserving 4 containers for the scented candles. Then I refill the jug and set it aside to cool again. This process is repeated, adding no more than 2cm of molten wax to an empty container, or to one in which earlier pourings of wax have set. I continue building up the levels of wax until all the containers are filled to about 1cm below the top.

When the dyed wax has cooled to 50C I add the essential oils and stir them in. I pour wax into the reserved containers to a depth of 2 cm, then put the jug of wax in the oven to stay warm. By this time I should have the oven temperature at 50-55C. I don’t want it any hotter because higher temperatures would cook off the essential oils. When the wax in the containers has set, I top it up by another 2cm, again returning the unused wax to the oven. I continue topping up until the containers are full to about 1cm from the top, or until I’ve used up all the scented and coloured wax. If I’ve judged things correctly, I meet both conditions at the same time.

Finishing off

When all the wax has set, it’s time to trim the wicks and make the candles presentable. I remove the wick supports and trim the wicks with sharp scissors so that they protrude 5-6mm above the surface of the wax. I doesn’t matter if I make gouges in the surface of the wax in the process because the next step fixes that.

The final step is to melt just a few millimetres of wax on the surface of each candle so that the surface sets smooth and even. I use a heat gun. I think of the heat gun as a hair-dryer-on-steroids. Heat guns are sold in DIY stores for drying paint or varnish, or bending plastic pipes, or welding plastics. They work really well for melting and levelling the surface of candles, or wax based cosmetics such as lip-balms.

Tidying up

I allow unused wax to cool and set in my wax melter. The jug used for plain wax goes in a fridge for about half an hour so the wax sets and shrinks. It’s fairly easy to chip the wax out of this jug into the wax melter ready for the next session of candle making.

I try not to have excess scented wax left. Unless I can think of a way of blending it with other fragrances, I discard any excess. Hot wax can be wiped out of the jug with kitchen paper. If there is too much for that, any liquid can be poured into an empty yoghurt or cream carton to set before being discarded.

Minor spills of wax can be scraped off hard surfaces. Very hot soapy water will remove the rest. Alternatively, small smears can be removed with a little paraffin oil (lamp oil). The lamp oil will evaporate quite quickly afterwards.

November 18, 2020November 21, 2020

W is for: Wintergreen

A rambling historical introduction

Germany was occupied by Allied forces at the end of the Second World War. In 1949 Germany was divided. The Federal Republic of Germany was a democracy known as West Germany. The German Democratic Republic was known as East Germany and was largely controlled by the Soviet Union. It wasn’t quite the same sort of democracy as its neighbour. By 1955 West Germany had joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and had re-armed with the blessing of its allies. NATO forces remained in West Germany, but their role switched from occupation of a defeated nation to deterring aggression from the East. There were 55,000 British military personnel stationed in West Germany from 1955 until German reunification was formalized on 03 October 1990 .

I first saw the Inner German Border in the late 1960s. I was one of the 55,000 for a total of about 8 years across the 1970s and 1980s.

A cold day

Sometime in the 1980s I was preparing for a small-scale military exercise in the region of Germany called the Eifel. The Eifel is a range of hills between Belgium and Germany. On the Belgian side it is called the Ardennes. It was the site of the Battle of the Bulge, the last major Nazi offensive of WWII from 16 Dec 1944 – 25 Jan 1945. Our base for our training exercise was a military camp called Vogelsang (Bird Song) that was built as a training camp for Hitler Youth.

On a very chilly day, 3 of us walked the terrain we planned to use for a map-reading exercise. (Paper maps. No GPS. No satellite images. And no mobile phones.) Sometime in the afternoon we took refuge in a Gasthof (pub) to wait for our ride back to camp. Our host took pity on us. While we waited for our glasses of beer, he poured us each a shot of clear spirit from an ice-encrusted bottle he kept in a freezer. I won’t ever forget that experience.

Revisiting spirit from the Eifel

I didn’t identify the liquor from that pub in the Eifel for another ten years. It turned out to be Eifelgeist (literally, Eifel spirit). According to the distillery, it is made with 42 hand-picked herbs, spices and flowers. The distillery doesn’t divulge its secret ingredients, but I’m sure the dominant herb is Wintergreen.

For the last 25 years I’ve kept successive bottles of Eifelgeist and a couple of shot glasses in the household freezer. The bottle is retrieved just 2 or 3 times a year to work its warming magic.

Wintergreen essential oil

Wintergreen essential oil is extracted by steam distillation from a genus of plants called Gaultheria, the most common of which is likely the American wintergreen Gaultheria procumbens. The aromatic component of Wintergreens is methyl salicylate. As well as being extracted from plants, methyl salicylate is synthesised.

I looked up the entry for Wintergreen essential oil in Julia Lawless’ Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils. Among other things, this is what it says:

ARMOATHERAPY/HOME USE None. ‘Avoid both internally and externally.’

The WebMD entry for wintergreen oil includes:

Wintergreen oil is POSSIBLY UNSAFE to take by mouth. Taking wintergreen oil can cause ringing in the ears, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea (US spelling!), headache, stomach pain, and confusion. As little as 6 ml (a little over a teaspoon) of the oil taken by mouth can be fatal.

When is a poison not a poison?

“What is there that is not poison? All things are poison and nothing is without poison. Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison.”

– Paracelsus (1493-1541).

Wintergreen, or more accurately synthetic methyl salicylate, is ingested in large quantities overall, but mostly very, very small amounts at a time. It’s a favourite flavouring for toothpaste, chewing gum, sweets and soft drinks, particularly in the USA. It’s one of the flavouring ingredients in Coca-Cola.

Medicinal Uses

Wintergreen oil is present at 3.7% in Olbas Oil, an “Inhalant decongestant” and topical muscle rub.

Methyl salicylate is chemically similar to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). 1 ml (20 drops) of oil of wintergreen is equivalent to about 1860 mg of aspirin, or almost six regular-strength adult aspirin tablets. Wintergreen is normally used in muscle rubs and liniments. It is one of the ingredients in the version of Surgical Spirits sold in the US. In most over-the-counter muscle rub creams the content of methyl salicylate is around 30%. In some it can be as high as 70%.

While topical muscle rubs containing Wintergreen are generally safe, the dosage is critical. The Naturopathic Doctor News & Review notes “In 2007, a 17-year-old cross-country runner died from excessive and long-term applications of topical muscle creams for pain relief. The medical examiner determined that an abnormally elevated level of methyl salicylate in her body was the cause of death.”

Perfume use

During the afternoon of 29 May 1969 a naked woman carried a cross across the floor of the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. The action was designed to illustrate the story of Christ driving the merchants out of the temple. It was staged by Bjørn Nørgaard and performed by Lene Adler Petersen. The photograph is a modern icon (which I can’t include here because of copyright issues, but you can see on Bjørn Nørgaard’s website). The action became known as The Female Christ.

While interesting in its own right, The Female Christ became relevant to a discussion of Wintergreen when a perfume company called 19-69 launched a new fragrance earlier this year (2020). They called it Female Christ. It is one of very few perfumes I could identify that includes Wintergreen. Fragrantica only lists two. I picked the one described as “unisex”. This is what Fragrantica says about Female Christ:

“Female Christ by 19-69 is a Woody fragrance for women and men. This is a new fragrance. Female Christ was launched in 2020. Top notes are Patchouli, Eucalyptus and Pimento; middle notes are Rhubarb, Red Thyme, Geranium and Wintergreen; base notes are Benzoin, Amber, Cashmere Wood, Vanilla and Cinnamon.”

It’s an intriguing fragrance, but my non-professional nose is challenged to detect the Wintergreen. I do plan to attempt using Wintergreen in a fragrance at some point. I won’t be attempting to emulate The Female Christ.

November 12, 2020

Blackthorn’s Botanical Brews

I’ve considered adding book reviews to Stir the Cauldron for a while. Reading Blackthorn’s Botanical Brews by Amy Blackthorn gave me the nudge I needed. After the credits and the contents pages, the Introduction begins:

“People have been fascinated by the idea of bubbling cauldrons full of magic brews since that old time immemorial.”

Overview

Blackthorn’s Botanical Brews is a recipe book with an emphasis on things to drink. Most of the recipes are for cocktails and their mocktail (Sober Alternative) versions. There are chapters on the tools of mixology, and ingredients. There are chapters on making cocktail ingredients from scratch. Amy discusses and describes making tea brews, kombucha and old-fashioned ginger beer. There’s a chapter on love potions (Love Potion, Chapter 9). It’s all interspersed with anecdotes and folklore, and it’s a delight to read.

I first encountered Amy Blackthorn’s work when I bought a copy of Blackthorn’s Botanical Magic. Botanical Magic is one of my reference books for the properties and practical uses of essential oils. But Amy doesn’t limit her descriptions to the physical and therapeutic properties of the oils. She explores the folklore associated with them, and their uses in sympathetic and ritual magic. Botanical Brews takes a similar approach. On one level it’s a “how to mix a drink” recipe book. At the same time it’s a book that offers ways of imbuing a simple drink with magic to turn it into a potion.

Botanical Brews begins with a couple of short chapters that describe the principles of using magic in a kitchen or bar. There is a further chapter on the tools of mixology – bar tools and glassware. The first recipes appear with the descriptions of different styles drinking vessel.

Ingredients

The largest part of the book is devoted to ingredients and recipes, beginning with spirit bases used for cocktails. These are three ways the ingredient descriptions engaged me:

The flavour of the Absinthe that I’ve tried didn’t inspire me. When I’d read this section I sought out a bottle of the better quality stuff, as well as the perforated spoon used to prepare a mixture of the spirit with chilled, sweetened water.

In her section about Bourbon, Amy acknowledges that there are whiskys that aren’t spelled with an “e”. As someone part-raised in Scotland I appreciated her explanation:

“The two spellings come from translating Scots Gaelic and Irish languages (remember that the countries with an E in the name will add it to whiskey, IrEland, UnitEd StatEs.)”

For luck:

“Rinse the bottom of your shoes with Vodka so that, wherever you go today, you are blessed by the moon and with good luck. (I have also done this on the wheels of my wheelchair; both work.)”

There are sections on other ingredients, including fruits and made ingredients. Sloes are the fruit of the Blackthorn tree, so there is a section devoted to them. (Sloes are uncommon in the US and the book is mostly written for an American audience.) One of the made ingredients is Oleosaccharum, made by sprinkling fine sugar over citrus peel to produce a highly concentrated citrus addition for drinks and desserts.

Recipes

The recipes span many styles. The ultimate Bloody Mary is one of many cocktails. (Called the Molotov Cocktail, it includes horseradish, various peppers, and pepper vodka.) A Sober Alternative accompanies each spirited cocktail. (“Having a parent who is an alcoholic, it was important for me to provide Sober Substitutions.”) I was intrigued by some of the non-alcoholic recipes for vinegar-based Switchels and Shrubs. There is a recipe for creating a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) as the mother for brewing kombucha. Amy has a company called Hoodoo Blends that produces herbal teas, so yes, there are recipes for teas. There are a few deserts, and some meat marinades. There’s even a recipe for a skin toner.

Overall

This is a kind book. It contains frequent encouragement and tips for the reader to practice self-care. There are anecdotes and stories to make a reader smile, alongside some cautionary tales derived from learning lessons along the way.

Having started with a quote from the Introduction, it seems fitting to end with a quote from the closing paragraphs:

“Being alive is magical. Birth, life, and death are each their own magic and mystery. If I can empower one person, show one person that the things we do in our daily lives can bring magic and meaning to an otherwise bleak world, I’ve done a good job.”

I’m in no doubt that Amy Blackthorn has done a good job many, many times.

November 7, 2020

Smelly Candles

I make candles for my own use, and as gifts. I make them with a blend of soy wax and beeswax. As I deliver gifts of candles there is an exchange that often plays out along the lines:

“I’ve brought you some home-made candles.”
“Oooh! Lovely! Are they scented?”

There’s the look that accompanies the answer “No”. The disappointed look that says:

“Oh. You’re giving me ordinary candles.”

I’ve finally capitulated. I’m starting to venture into making scented candles. But there are some good reasons why I’ve avoided scented candles for so long.

In October 2019 The Metro joined other voices that have questioned whether scented candles were damaging to health. It attributed most of the dangers to the use of paraffin wax in candles, scented or otherwise. It noted that (then) Environmental Secretary Michael Gove “said that candle manufacturers will be told to reduce emissions in their scented candles”. I’m not aware that any such directive has been issued. ( . . . the slimy Gove did gyre and gimble . . .)

I have a deep dislike of many petrochemicals. It’s not so much a moral objection as a physical one. The fumes on the forecourt make my skin prickle when I fill up my car. Paraffin wax candles affect my breathing. Commercially produced scented candles tend to be made with “fragrance oils”, even if the candlewax is vegetable based. So if a visit to a Yankee Candle store brings you joy I’m very happy for you. But please don’t expect me to accompany you. Or to any of many candle shops in malls and High Streets.

Artificial Fragrances

The first artificial fragrances were developed in chemistry laboratories in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Guerlan’s Jicky, launched in 1889, is generally regarded as the first “synthetic” perfume because of the proportion of synthetic fragrances it contains. Some earlier perfumes contained small proportions of synthetic fragrance.

Synthetic fragrances have a lot of advantages for anyone making perfume or scented candles. They are consistent, when natural fragrances can vary enormously in quality and potency. Perhaps most significantly, artificial fragrances are much cheaper than natural ones. The range of synthetic scents is also much wider. Many flower scents are destroyed by heat or solvents so they cannot be extracted from their natural sources, but artificial versions can be formulated. So Yankee Candles can offer fragrances with enticing names like “Mulberry and Fig Delight” or “Passion Fruit Martini”. Sadly these, and all their other offerings, just get right up my nose.

Adding things to candles

My first attempts to make scented candles were based on adding solid material. Many commercial scented candles have pieces of “stuff” embedded in the surface of the wax. I considered adding herbs, flowers, grated spices such as nutmeg or tonka beans, or resins such as frankincense or myrrh. I concluded that such additions could be decorative, but added nothing in terms of fragrance. Myrrh resin just sank:

That’s the problem with solid additions. They sink into the wax as the candle burns, and they don’t release enough fragrance to be significant. Solid additions can float on the surface of the molten wax and begin to burn as extra candle wicks. In the case of a resin such as myrrh or frankincense, the resin sinks to the bottom of the container until the level of the molten wax falls below the resin. Then the combination of wax and resin catches fire, and burns with an intensely hot flame. It’s a formula for turning something incandescent into something incendiary:

Oops! Not a recommended way to play with fire.

Anything embedded in the surface of a scented candle is most likely just decorative, but still potentially a fire risk. Some decorations may be made of wax which should burn safely.

Essential Oils in Candles

I’d suspected I would need to use essential oils to produce naturally scented candles. I’d suspected that I’d need to use quite a lot of essential oil to produce naturally scented candles. Until now I mostly bought essential oils in quantities of about 10 ml, and I used them in quantities measured in drops. (There are about 20 drops in 1 ml of oil.)

My second attempt to make a candle scented with myrrh included two 10 ml bottles of esssential oil in the wax to make four 100 g candles. That made candles comprising 5% essential oil.

The first scented candles that I made with myrrh essential oil seem successful, but the scent was not as strong as I would like it to be.

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

Since my first scented candles were made with myrrh, it seemed appropriate to make candles with frankincense and “gold”. (I’ve often wondered what happened to the gold, frankincense and myrrh delivered by the Three Wise Men. But I digress . . . ).

For my second attempt at making scented candles I increased the proportion of essential oil to 7½%. That produced a frankincense version to go with the myrrh candles.

Gold presented a different challenge. While some people may claim to be able to smell gold, it isn’t a recognisable scent. My version added a little candle dye and gold-coloured mica to the candle wax, and enough of my Yule blend of oils to make up 7½% of the candle weight.

And the containers for these candles? They come from Aldi. There’s a free fruit yoghurt with every one.