Quick DIY| Anthropologie Mercury Candle Make-Over

So, who would have thought a simple de-waxing would lead to this very cool DIY happy little accident!

Ever have a candle that happens to be in a cool jar that you want to re-use once the wax has been used? No, just me? My hoarder potential may be showing a bit…oops! But, I have a feeling I’m not alone on this given the oodles of how-to’s on the subject of ‘how to remove wax from a used candle’.

DIY remove wax and foil from anthropologie capri blue candle

So, one of my all time favorite scents is the Capri Blue candle from Anthropologie. If you haven’t had the chance to get a whiff, boy are you missing out! (They even make a ginormous version thats about $200 and I’m tempted every time to buy it for a lifetime supply of this scent). You can buy the ‘capri blue’ candle it a variety of containers and they are all save-worthy.

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Gorgeous right? I don’t know about you but when I spend anywhere from $18-$28 on a candle the idea of throwing away a perfectly good jar seems crazy! As crazy as spending that much on a candle!

So, I may or may not have about 4 versions of the capri blue floating around my house- one of which is the mercury glass version.

So when the candle was no longer able to burn, I decided to clean out the wax to reuse as a pretty jar for who knows what. My quick Pinterest search to clean out wax said to boil water and pour into the jar-let cool-then remove the wax that will float to the top once cooled.

How simple is that?

So, that’s what I did.

There are no pictures of this process because I had no idea how this was going to turn out nor that it would be post-worthy.

Imagine the steps if you will.

1. Heat water on the stove in saucepan or tea kettle.

2. Pour hot water into used candle.

3. Allow water to cool.

And that’s where this plan deviates. As the water was sitting in the jar, I noticed crackles along the inside and realized the “mercury” or foil from inside the jar was cracking and peeling. Not the look I was going for. I wanted to maintain the mercury look. So, I decided to give it some time to see what would happen. Annnnnd it just got more crackly.

So after an hour the water had cooled and the wax was hard and floating at the top. I took a fork (fancy right?) and threw away the wax and poured out the water and much of the foil was coming out with it. Then I took a sponge and some dish soap and scrubbed a bit and all of the foil came out and I was left with a beautiful glass jar! Who knew!

So the final steps:

4. Remove wax that has hardened at the surface

5. Pour out water

6. With soap and sponge clean out jar removing loose foil and wax

7. Enjoy your new beautiful jar

I love that you can see all the detailed etching in the glass once the foil was removed. Think of the endless possibilities for this cute little container.