How to Make a Cardboard Candle Wick at Camp

You go to camp to get away from it all, but sometimes that proves problematic. When you forget something when camping far from civilization, you have three options: go without, return to town or improvise. If your candles have all burned down but you still have the stubs, use some cardboard and the lid to a jar to make your own camp candle. Rolled-up cardboard pressed into the lid acts as a wick for the candle once you fill the lid with melted wax from leftover candle stubs. This type of candle is often referred to as a buddy burner.

Things You'll Need

  • Knife or scissors
  • Corrugated cardboard
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cut a strip from the cardboard that is as wide as the height of your jar lid. Cut across the corrugation, so the ribs run perpendicular to the length of the strip.

    • 2

      Roll the cardboard strip into a coil about the size of the lid. Add additional strips of cardboard to the coil if one strip does not fill the lid.

    • 3

      Press the cardboard coil into the lid. Once you fill the lid with melted wax, the cardboard will act as a wick for your homemade candle.