Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, it was a dark and stormy night. So dark and stormy, in fact, the power had gone out, and you had naught but a handful of scented three-wick candles with which to light your way. As you crept down the darkened hallway of the cabin in the woods along the picturesque shores of Crystal Lake that you and your randy teenage friends rented from the eerily helpful maintenance man back at the abandoned service station with all the weird pelts hanging outside, you caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of your eye. Whirling madly about, you brandished your glass jar of Pumpkin Cupcake Crunch, set to square off against any number of undead, masked killers with nothing but the three-wick in your hand and your own blazing moxie. Then, with a chuckle of embarrassed relief, you realized it was just your lucky Chucky Doll figurine - must have fallen off the shelf when that puzzle doodad covered in all the bizarre symbols you found in the basement behind the walled-up root cellar tipped over. Pressing a hand to your fluttering heart, you shook your head as you contemplated the massive, flammable waxcident that nearly was - heavens, THAT certainly could have been messy!
And then THAT'S when one of your friends came banging through the swinging door of the kitchen, catching you square in the back, throwing you forward and the candle up, and out, and then eventually down, where it exploded in a geyser of molten wax, covering everything in the livingroom with burnt orange pumpkin spice, including the creepy two-way mirror and the snarling wolf head affixed to the wall. Congratulations; now you're really in a horror movie!
Oh, we've all been there, and not just waxies, but anyone who enjoys a hobby that occasionally errs towards the messy and dangerous (jest not, glitter glue burns are a real thing!) So this month, in honour of Halloween, we're taking a look at our most monstrous pastime nightmares - the waxcidents and beauty blunders and crafting calamities that haunt our hobby dreams. What's the worst hobby hazard you've ever suffered? And do you have any magical tips for cleaning Pumpkin Cupcake Crunch out of carpet fibers (or wolf fur)?
I have to say that this spooky tale really spoke to me. Whether I'm just supremely clumsy or extremely unlucky I've had my fair share of catastrophic, puzzling and downright laughable "waxidents" over my years of indulging in this heavenly scented but messy hobby. Let's be honest; all of us crazies who are perching random fragile vessels containing molten wax in random spots around the house are just asking for trouble. Throw in an inquisitive pet, busy toddler or a lumbering husband and it's a wonder we waxies don't spend hours every day pulling our hair out trying to figure out how to get dried wax off the weirdest objects. Sadly I have to say many wax dribbles and even entire candles worth of wax have ended up on my carpet. Trying to wax out of carpet is the ultimate nightmare. I don't care what voodoo magic or ritual sacrifice techniques you use; you will never truly get rid of the entire wax stain. You may think you have but I guarantee you it's lurking just below the surface of those plush fibers. When we were trying to get large amounts of wax out of the carpet we were told to use a heat source to melt the wax and something to absorb it. We spent hours on our hands and knees with an iron and paper towels but we were still left with an unsightly discolored stain. I've heard of other variations of using hair dryers and paper bags or towels, and it does help remove a lot of the waxiness, but stains seem unavoidable, especially with colored wax. Eventually we will need to get our carpet steam cleaned and say a little prayer that it will help.
Getting wax spills of of hard surfaces is a bit less difficult, although still annoying. If I get wax on my counters or walls I just get a flat edged metal spatula and scrape it right off and then wipe off any excess with a damp sponge or paper towel. You just have to be careful not to scratch your wooden, wallpapered or painted surfaces.
To share probably the most bizarre and frustrating waxident I ever had: I had been feeling sick and blew out a candle to go to bed. I set it on top of another candle as I always do, but somehow the lid on the bottom candle shifted and it slid right off onto the floor, ruining everything in it's path. The table, the carpet, even my hubby's brand new rifle case. I was so miserable but my hubby's response was great! I ❤️him.
Lost half a candle. Man down! *moment of silence for fallen brother * Having to clean up the mess is obviously the worst part, but I'm just glad it was a $3 Walmart candle and not an expensive one, haha.
Amanda at Thrifty Polished
Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast
Julie at The Redolent Mermaid
Lauren at LoloLovesScents
Liz at Furianne
Sandra at Finger Candy
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Ha, excellent points, all - given all the chaos and the fire and the hot, melty stuff, I'm also surprised there aren't more incidents. Although not having carpet really helps - so much easier to clean up hardwood or tile floors. My cat never wants anything to do with my wax, thankfully, but I don't know what you'd do if you had a very curious critter pawing around your wax. :)
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing you post about that late night waxident, oh the worst, cause who wants to clean that up at night, or see it first thing in the morning? I thought your husband handled it really well, mine likely would have too, meanwhile I would have freaked--ironic because I'm the much bigger klutz in the relationship.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoyed your first big trip to the Philippines:))
Oh man! He is a keeper, so calm and cool about it. And yes... I have some candles that if I spilled half of them I would be super sad... but a Walmart one is like "whew." I like all those tips for getting wax out!
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