Tuesday, the evening that the headache went away

[hypatia42]

Yesterday morning I got a very long massage. This is the third massage in sequence I have received that was over 90 minutes. I believe it will be the last of its kind. Every time I have come away with a terrible headache. Two days of excruciating pain. In the end, today I had caffeine, ibuprofen, lots of water, food, and a bit more of specific but gentle massage. It went away. I'm not sure what did it but I'm also not sure I care.

Because of this headache I slept most of yesterday and today away. Now that the headache is gone I'm left awake and with a considerable amount of energy. Not such a good thing to have at 1:30 in the morning on a day I need to be at work for 10 hours.

I used this new found energy to continue my candle making endeavors. I hadn't really dealt with them much since Imbolc and the following day because I have been fighting off the ick. I made a tall *pink* one for Itty Bitty, who is in love with all things pink. I made one fat red one to go with the fat green one I made last time. I poured two black tapers, one red taper, and one pink taper for use in ritual. I started melting down a batch of white but once it was melty I realized that I needed to filter it, given its filthy state, and that the container I have to filter molten wax into was already full of red wax that I needed to be using to back fill the red taper and pillar molds I had cooling. So the white is on hold currently and I will get back to it eventually.

I feel pretty good about what I have made thus far. I swear I have enough wax that I could make all the candles we need for ritual for several years without purchasing any more wax.

In addition to making candles, I have dyed wool for a special project I am plotting. It is nowhere near a solid color. It came out all mottled and tie-dyed looking. Kinda cool but soo not the look I was going for. Here's hoping that it'll work all the same. Especially since I'm not really sure there's anything I can do about it at this point. I did come out of the wash very very softy and nice though. Wool-silk-cashmere apparently likes to be softy and nice. I like plotting.

I think I've done everything I can for the stuff I was doing. Headache still gone and I'm starting to get tired. Here's hoping I can come home from work tomorrow and crash.

Love from MN, Amy out.

Comments

[ixtli-awakening.livejournal.com]

conceptually, i understand the candle-making process. but practically, i'm a little vague on the details. is it terribly difficult, and are there a great many unique tools involved? i've always wanted to try my hand at it, but just haven't gotten around to it...

If you want

[krkhst.livejournal.com]

To give it a try before investing alot of money here is a way you can do it:

Go to the store and buy some milk or cream in one of the old style cartons. Use up the contents and then cut off the top and rinse out thouroughly and let dry.

Buy some gulf wax and a couple of candles you would like the color of if they were a couple of shades lighter (make sure they are colored all the way through, and not just the top layer.)

Go to a thrift store and buy an old crappy pot.

You will need one thing from a craft store: wick. The bigger the milk carton you will be using, the thicker the wick needs to be. A wick that is too thin will not burn the candle all the way - just a small channel in the middle, which means in won't burn all the way down, it'll just put itself out about half way through.

Melt the wax and the candle in the old crappy pot (pull out the wick from the melted wax). Keep temperature low low low on stove, or put the pot in a bigger pot full of water to create a double boiler. Wax can catch on fire if it gets too hot.

When it's the color you want, pour it into the milk carton. Have already prepared a wick: make it long enough to reach the entire length of the carton, plus about two inches; wrap one end around a stick/pencil/chopstick and dip it in the hot wax once or twice and pull out straight. When the wax in the carton is cooling just the slightest (when you can see a film forming on top along the sides of the carton, but before it goes all the way across the top of the candle) insert the wick. The pencil will rest across the top of the carton and hold it in place while the wax cools.

Let it rest for 24 hours or so, tear off the carton, trim the wick, and voila! A candle. If you absolutely love doing it, you can invest in more of the equipment. If you hate it, you're not out much but time and a few bucks....

Re: If you want

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

Hey, do you still have the clear I-think-it-was-Sterolite container that had some of the candle-making stuff in it? I don't need it back, keep it if you've got it, I just don't know if it was still out on loan or if it got lost in one of the multiple moving disasters. (I've also lost track of what bits were in which boxes, etc.)

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

It's not difficult, it's a lot of fun, and I have a lot of the necessary equipment (including a great deal of granulated beeswax). If we schedule carefully, we could have a candle-making day, quite easily.

I'd have to inventory the boxes downstairs, because some of my candle-making stuff got left in MN, I think, so we'd have to pick up a few things from Michael's or a candlemaking shop. But not much.

[ixtli-awakening.livejournal.com]

dude, yes. you know me, i'm a crafty spaz, and i usually just wing it when i decide to undertake a new medium or technique. considering how much mess and potential combustion is involved, however, this might be one best explored with supervision...

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

Mess, yes. Potential for uncontrolled combustion is pretty low with a couple basic precautions. The mess factor is far more significant, if you don't want to be scraping wax off floor and counters for a year to come. Dropcloths are good, and we'll need a roll of baking parchment paper, or a lot of aluminum foil. :-)