Crisco. It’s a funny word. Right? Crisco. Crisco. Is it just me? Crisco.

Be honest, do you have a can of it stashed in your cupboard? Or did you boot it out of your kitchen when trans fats were outted as less healthy than saturated fats? I think I made a pie crust with it back when I fancied myself a baker, but I haven’t had the stuff in my house for ten years. Not so much because of the fat concern, as I am just too lazy to bake.

So it shouldn’t surprise you that the last time I used Crisco was on a pair of shoes.

I’m gonna let that sink in for a minute.

Here is the link if you dare to wander back to my old blog and a long-winded post about a shoe refashion for my birthday party.

Anyhow, I stumbled onto this Crisco candle project when I was watching prepper videos. Yes, I said prepper video’s. You might think all those prepper folk are a little crazy. Perhaps even crazier than someone who makes plants out of aluminum cans. But they know some interesting stuff! And I am not too proud to admit that sometimes, I worry about things I might need to know for survival in the zombie apocalypse.

Ok, really, who am I kidding? I will be the person with the sign in my yard that reads, “The door is unlocked. Please take me first.” Because if I am being honest, I’m not all that excited to live in a world without toothpaste, toilet paper, and showers. Still, after learning about Crisco candles, I had to run right out and by a tub.

Recently I have been finding or revisiting things I am bad at; one example is gardening. Of course, a more optimistic person might look at the glass half full and say that I am instead just really good at killing things. And by things, I mean plants and vegetation. I never kill anything else, not even spiders or bugs, except maybe mosquitos, but there again, I am just mentioning things I am not very good at. Usually, they bite me and make a clean escape without me being the wiser, happily flitting off to brag about the delicious new bistro they just discovered. Obviously, all of this leaves me woefully unprepared to tangle with any zombies. So let’s just say if the Sh*t hits the fan, you can have my toilet paper.

Anyway, as luck or bad choices would have it, candle-making is another place for me to highlight my ineptitude. Over the years, I have made several wax blobs with embarrassing sunken cavities and questionable flammability.

But I am nothing if not stubborn.

And besides, I like burning things 🙃 So I am trying it again.

The steps are pretty straightforward.

Step 1 – Melt

It only takes a few seconds to melt the Crisco in a microwave-safe measuring cup.

Step 2 – Pour

Next, pour the melted vegetable oil into cleaned glass containers and allow it to cool. The shortening took about two hours to return to a solid form, but you can cool it faster in the refrigerator or freezer.

Step 3 – Insert “wick”

Once the shortening has cooled, insert a tapered candle in the middle to make a wick. My candles were small enough that I used birthday candles.

They look ok so far. But the real test is ahead. You can find out how the candles performed in the video below.

Spoiler Alert: It was not a roaring success, but I can’t really blame the Crisco. 🙂

Happy Upcycling,

Cindy

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