Today a package arrived from Target, containing a "Bali Sunrise" Opalhouse candle. It smelled amazing. But I broke it, and when I tried to get the candle out to put in another jar, well, the wicks stuck to the base of the jar and pulled out of the candle wax. I could not get the wicks back in. I was frustrated that my brand-new candle was ruined, but then I had a thought -- what about using the wax in a wax warmer?

The thing is, I didn't have a wax warmer. But that doesn't mean I can't make one! So I thought for a while and came up with an idea. It's not perfect, but I do like the way it turned out!

Unfortunately, I didn't take pics while I was constructing it, but the process should be relatively easy to understand.

​Here's what you need: 

• Decorative perforated metal (sold in sheets at your local hardware store)
• Tin snips (ditto)
• A Oui glass yogurt jar (A wee jar. A wee Oui jar. No, not a wee wee jar. I mean the smallest size, the ones that come in four-packs.)
• Something to fasten it together -- wire, twist tie, or in my case, a strip of the perforated metal

​
I had these things around the house already — I didn't need to go anywhere, which is good in this age of social distancing.

Construction:

Using the tin snips, cut out a rectangle of the metal, a size that will make the cylinder size you want. It will be about as big around as a soda can, but the height can vary a bit. 

Take your Oui jar and remove the label if there is one. The best jar for this is the small size, the ones that come in four packs of Oui. They don't have labels and their size is slightly better. But if you don't have one, the larger ones are OK.

Make several snips along the top of the metal. You are making flaps you will fold inward. Roll the metal into a cylinder roughly the size of a pop can, and place the Oui jar inside it. Fasten the cylinder with wire or a scrap piece of the metal, so it will stay closed.

At this point the jar probably won't stay at the top of the cylinder. This is what the flaps are for. Bend them inward, evenly so the jar will sit straight. Once they are bent in far enough, they will support the jar by its lip (See the pic below to clarify this). 

That's really all there is to it! Put wax in the jar, then light a tealight and set the cylinder above it. That's your wax warmer! I'm happy with mine. It works beautifully and it's not expensive like the ones in shops. It doesn't look bad at all, either.

See the pics below for more information. 

 (This is cross-posted from my personal blog at slumberland.org.)

Recently I acquired a mid-century tension pole lamp. The kind that looks sorta like this:

The sellers dropped it while removing it from the house, so they gave it to me free, and then I had to search for replacement shades and find out how to rewire the thing. The wiring was truly scary and that pole had large sections of rotting electrical tape inside it. Ebay came to the rescue for the shades, and YouTube for the rewiring.
So here’s the result! I rewired it one evening and was actually shocked (pun unintended) to find that it worked! The shades aren’t colored — they are white, but putting colored light bulbs in them gives the colored shade effect — when the lights are on, at least.