Thursday, July 6, 2023
Welcome back to Art Thursdays of my B.R.E.A.T.H.S. blog where I invite you into Brainerd’s Brushstrokes and Photography studio. This is a space where I share my art. For the four weeks this July, I will be doing art and craft projects with my family then sharing our creations! For the first week, we are doing citronella candle-making. Grab some supplies and come join us! I also have a very special Daily Motivation Draw at the end, so please don’t forget to check that out!
Citronella Candle-Making Supplies
For this project, we have decluttered a few of our family homes from all the used or old candles, there was quite a bit. We started to use metal knives to scrape the wax into smaller pieces, but it was too hard for the little ones so we switched to using metal cheese graters. We also recommend paper plates to grate the wax on since we used paint trays as that is all we had and it made quite the mess (we thought we had paper plates).
| DECLUTTERED CANDLES
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METAL CHEESE GRATERS
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REGULAR PAPER PLATES
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GLUE GUN & STICKS
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There was already a set of a dozen small Ball half-pint jars that we will repurpose for this project. From Amazon, I ordered a set of 4” wicks with bases and holding sticks, along with some citronella essential oil. I repurposed an old saucepan to hold the jars while melting the wax in a BBQ (since we were outside). Will need oven mitts.
| 4” CANDLE WICK KIT
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BALL HALF-PINT JARS
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CITRONELLA ESSENTIAL OIL
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USED SAUCEPAN
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Citronella Candle-Making Directions
1-Set up the crafting station with all the supplies. Start heating the glue gun.
2-Next, we asked the kids to pick their favorite colors of candles.
3-Put hot glue on the metal base of the wick and then place in the center bottom of the jar. Use the wick stick to press it firmly into place.
4-The kids took turns grating their candles on the paper plates and filling the jars with the wax.
5-We picked some lavender and put that in the jars to add some color and texture.
6-Write the names on the wick holding stick and fit the wick into the hole to keep straight.
7-Pour some citronella into each jar. We tried to use the dropper but it was messy.
8-Put jars in the saucepan, put the saucepan on the BBQ and let melt for 25-30 min. Adults took the pan out with oven mitts.
9-We noticed the wax melted halfway down and we needed to add more and let it melt for another 30 min.
10-Let sit overnight in a cool dry place.
Concluding Thoughts on Citronella Candle-Making
Originally, the thought was to melt the candles in one saucepan, which is actually what we will do next time. When the kids started picking colors they decided all the colors melted together would make an ugly color, so they wanted to shave their own wax to keep their candles one pretty color. Halfway through the melting process, they noticed some of the paint chips falling to the bottom and they had to add a different color wax because theirs had run out. Overall, the candles did turn out just fine and the citronella aroma has filled the house, hopefully keeping all the bugs out, lol. Please enjoy our family video below.
Thank you for reading and viewing! Please come back next week to see what we will be working on! Sending lots of love!
Dr. Jaime Brainerd, Ed.D.
July 6, 2023 Daily Motivation Draw
I was with my 10 year old niece for this draw today, it was her very first time witnessing the use of an oracle card deck. Her first question was, “is this related to Christianity?” My answer was, “related, yes, through the Holy Spirit. Also, this has been around for thousands of years, actually, longer than Christianity. Plus, they both set up sacred altars to hold space to speak with our Creator.” She was pleasantly surprised and her heart was open to learning something new.
We set up a small outdoor altar on a small round glass and metal table with a candle, fresh-picked raspberry and blueberry that my niece picked, The Sacred Medicine Oracle Card Deck, a palo santo stick, and a lighter. She lit the candle, lit the stick, and I read the invocation from the guidebook as she waved the stick in the directions I was speaking of while she held the deck in her hands while thinking about our time together. I shuffled the deck three times, handed her the deck, asked her to cut it in half and draw that center card asking:
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Daily Draw Question: “What medicine is being invited into my life so that I may thrive?”
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The card she drew: 54 – Sacred Space – Support
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Message integration: You are being called to create a sacred space to allow healing to flow (Frost, 2023). It is time to commit to spiritual practice and allow divine energy to bring forth my biggest manifestations (Frost, 2023). This space is sacred, respected, and honored to support me through the healing process (Frost, 2023)
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Healing affirmation: “I attend to my sacred spaces with care, and they hold the vibration that is best for me.”
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Personal insight: Both my niece and I got teary-eyed when we pulled this card as it tugged really hard on our heart strings. For this being her first time setting up a sacred space, drawing a card with intention, and then experiencing the card’s divine energy was an absolute miracle. Aside from the message integration and healing affirmation, what many may not realize is our small family tribe has recently come together to help support my niece so this card was a validation from the Source. We are overfilled with love and gratitude.
Reference:
Frost, A. (2023). The sacred medicine oracle card deck & guidebook. Hay House, Inc.
