Candle Making Activity

“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”

― Anne Frank

Thursday 1 August 2013

Today was the first day of candle making activity. It was a completely novel experience for me, and I was ready to take up the challenge. This activity came under the Creativity section of the programme and today I devoted 2 of the 8 hours this activity would take up. 

We aim to make around 100 candles and then sell them to raise fund for the underprivileged children. The fund raising however would come under the Service part of CAS.

Contrary to my prior notion making candles is a fairly easy task, given you are careful. In fact, I realised that making candles involves 6 basic steps:

1.    Grease the mould.
2.    Melt the wax.
3.    Add colour.
4.    Put a wick in the mould.
5.    Pour the molten wax in the mould and let it cool.
6.    Remove the candle from the mould once solid.

Nevertheless, performing the activity actually isn’t that easy. The wax is melted in a double boiler. It is a special apparatus used to melt delicate substances and can be difficult to handle at times.

It also requires a lot of patience and precision. Although I made only 5 small candles today, it made me much more confident about making candles.

Friday 2 August 2013

I knew we would have a candle making session today so I had planned that I would make at least 5 more candles today and that they would be different from the ones I had made yesterday. For that I consulted my Activity Supervisor Mrs. Deepshri, who suggested that I should make gel candles, which require more technique but are obviously more exquisite.

I was much more committed to it this time; therefore, I could not only handle the things properly but could also grasp new techniques easily. It was really exciting because the molten gel wax would solidify if I weren’t punctual, resulting in a wax with bubbles and froth. I had to multitask and in doing so I realised at I had developed a sort of assembly line, which was more efficient than the earlier process.

I completed 2 more of the total 8 hours of this activity today. I was really happy that I learned so much hitherto and that I was erred to consider candle making a trivial task. Everything has so much to teach you, you just need to be willing to learn.

Thursday 22 August 2013

So many days had passed since I last made candles. I was, to some extent, missing the aroma of molten wax, for I got so used to it in just two days. Well, in today’s session, I saw all those candles I had made till now and was so satisfied to behold my work and that of others.  

I was going to complete 6 hours of this activity today, and so I had planned that I would make it a little different today. I wanted to collaborate with my classmates in to a small team so that we can share our ideas and come up with something novel. I thus, teamed up with Shubham and Tanmay for today’s activity. It was a little difficult to work because more the people more the mess. But I was determined to work in synchrony with others and so I accepted some of their suggestions while also putting in my own. Since we were more in number the work was divided, and it enabled us to come up with more exotic colour combinations and extra features for the candles. Working together really turned out to be very helpful.

Thursday 29 August 2013

Today was the last day of candle making activity and I devoted 2 more hours to the amazingly creative activity, thus completing the 8 hours.

 I thought that since I had put in so much of creativity in it, I would be left with none. But it turned out to be just the opposite, I had learned so many things and now, I was feeling more full of creativity than ever before.

We un-moulded the remaining candles and gave them all a finishing touch. We also decorated some of the larger candles so the they appealed to the buyer. Now that we had our candles ready it was time to be the purveyors. That however would start in the next month.

It was a really amazing experience and it taught me a lot. I know it is just the beginning, but that itself excites me. I look forward to more of such activities.