Making candles out of old wax

So, here's a little typical project on the homestead: making new candles.  I found a recipe for the flame retardant for wicks that's easily made at home (4 tbls borax, 2 tbls salt in 1.5c water, soak overnight) and we used some old string.  On the day of melting, we tied some small weights to the string (old nails. now where did I ever purchase those?)

 and Melissa and I worked to tie the weighted string also onto a small stick to hold it up in the container:

 and then, after melting the wax over a fire outside, we filled up these old little glass containers (that used to have small candles in them. Our friend Christine used to get them from weddings and she gave us 50 or so)

 Here's me dipping the last of the wax out of the melting pot while some squash and potatoes get onto the coals in the dutch oven:

 and the finished candles looked pretty good - for just a random mixture of wax of all colors.

 and sure enough, they work!