Upcycled Life: Bottle cap tea lights

By saving the ends of old candles throughout the year, you can create an entire craft out of found objects. These sweet little tea lights made in bottles caps are great gifts or emergency candles.

Start by melting the candle nubs in a glass jar or aluminum can set in a shallow pan of water on the stove.

Carefully pull out the used wicks with a skewer and lay the wicks out on wax paper to dry. I cut off the burned ends and reuse the wicks for my upcycled candles.

If the wicks are unusable or you need a longer wick, use a 100% cotton string. Cut the cotton string to about 1-inch lengths and drop it into the hot wax. Immediately remove and let dry.

Dip one end of a wick into the hot wax and press into the center of a bottle cap. Repeat until all the of wicks and caps are used.

Pour the melted wax into the bottle caps. You now have tiny candles!

Katie Patterson Larson is the director and founder of Art Salvage. Art Salvage keeps usable materials out of the waste stream and makes them accessible and affordable. For more information, visit artsalvagespokane.com.