How to Remove Candle Wax from Just About Anything
Remove Wax from Votive Candle Holders
One of the most obvious places that you may want to remove wax from is votive candleholders. Votives tend to melt and pool leaving behind a big waxy mess long after the wick has completely burned away. That can mean that your pretty candle holders are filled with icky old wax making them nearly impossible to use again.
If you have a large piece of wax or even thick wax residue in your votive holder, put it in the freezer for awhile until the wax is very cold. Then, take a blunt object like a butter knife or a small chisel and slowly attempt to pry the wax up out of the candle holder. When the wax is cold or frozen it should be quite easy to remove.
If you want to keep wax from sticking to your votive holders to begin with you can place a drop or two of water in the votive holder before you place your candle in and start burning it. This will help to prevent the wax from sticking to the sides of the candle holder and will make cleaning it when the candle is gone much easier.
Remove Wax from Fabric
Wax can get on a variety of fabrics ranging from tablecloths to clothing and can be unsightly and difficult to remove. The best way to get wax out of fabric is using and iron and a paper towel. Set your iron to the warmest temperature that your fabric can handle, and then place a folded paper towel over the wax stain. Iron over the paper towel for a few seconds. Continue this process with fresh paper towels until the wax has been removed from the fabric. If there is a still a stain where the wax was you should treat it with a laundry stain remover following the manufacturer’s directions before washing it.
Remove Wax from Carpet
One of the most common areas for spilled candle wax is on your carpet. Removing candle was from carpeting is especially important since carpet is so costly to replace. Removing candle was from carpet is very similar to removing it from other types of fabric.
First you will need to remove as much of the wax as possible using a putty knife or butter knife to pry it up. You can also freeze it with an ice cube which will make it break apart more easily. Be sure to pick up or vacuum the wax scraps quickly so they don’t re-adhere themselves to your carpet in warm weather.
Next, take a warm iron and a clean, white paper towel with no printing. Place the paper towel over the wax, set your iron on a low setting, and gently heat the wax. Keep in mind that the synthetic fibers of carpet can often melt from the heat of an iron so you want to keep the heat as low as possible and should consider testing it in on a section of carpet that is hidden from view to make sure there will be no problems with it. If the iron is to hot you can use a hairdryer to apply heat to the paper towel instead. When you remove the paper towel from the wax stain it will pull some of the wax up with it. Continue this process with clean paper towels until the wax has all been removed.
If you are left with a stain on your carpet from the wax try a commercial carpet stain remover. If all else fails you may need to contact a professional cleaner to help remove the wax stain from your carpet.
Remove Was From Wooden Furniture
Wax often finds its way onto wooden furniture and can be tricky to clean off since you don’t want to damage your furniture with excessive scraping. They key to getting wax off of wood is to be gentle in everything you do. First, scrape up as much of the wax residue as possible using the edge of a credit card. The plastic will be gentler and less likely to scratch or scrape your wood than a metal object. You should be able to get the majority of the wax up simply by scraping.
To remove any remaining wax residue use a clean cloth and some furniture polish to gently buff the wax away.
