Interesting topic Wanda and thanks for the instructions on how to carve out a pillar. I've usually just let them burn enough to make a well to hold a real tealight then messed around with a knife but your way sounds much neater. :-) I burn real tealights, votives, tapers, then pillars in that order of frequency but tealights the most. I have a bazillion tealight holders (ys finds) and feel they are safer than tapers with the cats. I like the beeswax or soya the best altho have a lifetime supply of paraffin ones but mostly use them outdoors in the summer. Ikea has the best quality paraffin tealights for the lowest price IMO and sell in bags of 100 for about $3 on sale ($4-something regular) and I've also bot them at YS's for even less. I do have some battery ones I got a few years ago for the RV (for safety) but wasn't impressed with the appearance of the flame altho I've been told they have improved so should give them a try again. I like the idea of remote control pillars as I have the same accessibility problem on my mantel. I'd like to use them as there are convection currents because of the stove and my beeswax tapers dripped on the silk poinsettias at Christmas.

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve been back to this thread. I’m posting this on my lunch break, and I only have a certain amount of internet time I purchase each month, so I have to be careful not to blow it all too fast. Also, Saturday my new couch was delivered so I have been in a whirl; vacillating between guilt and utter satisfaction. I LOVE my couch…. Monablair, thank you for welcoming me back! I’m glad you enjoyed my table settings, I do it as much for my self as my guests. There is the old saying “you eat with your eyes”, and I try to elevate the experience not only for the food presentation, but for the surroundings that are present around the meal. Not that my look is for everyone, but I enjoy it…(but that’s probably a whole other conversation) Lanaroma, thank you too for your complement for my table designs, and for healing good wishes! Nosoccermom., I enjoyed your photos; I really like all white rooms, and canopies! I don’t mind a bit of black either, it adds drama. I enjoy using it in bits and pieces, in art frames, lamp shades, mirror frame, little accessories. Although, I have seen the blackest of black ceilings which to me, enlarged the space, and provided some interesting drama. Funkyart, I enjoyed your description as to what makes you happy “ bold, tactile, sleek wood, simple clean design” , I could see it all in my head even without the lovely table you posted. Patty_cakes, so true, it’s an equation of the chosen décor and well as the occupants, and since everyone is different, the look will evoke different terminology and description. Rosie, yes, the sound is an important factor to me too. Soft, silent, feet moving along a floor of wood, marble, carpet, it’s all a part of the tactile experience. Music in the background, rain hitting the roof… Trailrunner, yep, I certainly learn from different opinions and appreciations of what is part of our everyday lives. Everyone’s cocoons mean different things, I enjoy seeing and hearing what other people love in their life. I’m glad you enjoyed my blog, I will try to keep on top of it better now. I love the aspect of the slow revel too (life itself reflects that too… in so many interesting ways), I also like the dramatic “in your face”- here’s the room, of course, for me, it all depends on how it’s presented.

An alternative to adding color might be to leave the candle a natural color and blend dried herbs or flowers, or beads or trinkets into the candle wax in such a way that they are visible, through the wax, at the sides of the candles, for interest.

I should've posted to that i have bought from different places to make all 30 of these candles. Everything wasn't bought at just by nature. So it's not that there products arn't good its something that i am doing. I've had a varity of products from different sellers and still no result......Thanks