24. Candle

Vervain liked to keep busy, and loved to try new things, and so, in another attempt at finding uses for Jaden's yarn scraps, they decided they wanted to try their paws at making candles. The idea had come to them only after finding candle making supplies up in the attic. When the celestial had first discovered the tall tin forms and the sturdy wooden racks, they couldn't quite puzzle out what they would be used for, until they found a small supply of wicks. There were so few premade wicks that they knew that they would have to make more if they wanted to be able to make candles in any quantity.

Setting up a pan of water on the stove, Vervain balanced another pan atop it, making a double boiler. They added chunks of beeswax, and waited for the water to simmer and the wax to melt. They decided to start with a small batch, not knowing how it would go, but ready to try. While waiting for the wax to melt, they braided strands of yarn together, to make a thicker wick. To start Vervain made two short wicks and two tall ones. By the time they were finished braiding the wax had melted.

Moving the double boiler off the hottest part of the stove and closer to the counter, the celestial dunked one of the short wicks and one of the long wicks into the wax, swirling them around. They then hung the wicks on the rack to cool. The other pair of wicks were tossed into the pot and left to soak in the hot melted wax for a few minutes, before being hung up to cool. Moving the double boiler off the heat completely, just to be safe, Vervain returned their attention to the cooled wicks.

Using a long matchstick they lit in the stove, Vervain attempted to light the test wicks. However hard they tried, the wicks wouldn't light. The wax melted, the wool shriveled and stank. Vervain wrinkled up their nose. Frowning, they tried a piece of yarn without wax, when flame was applied, the wool shriveled up, black and smoking, smelly and useless. When trying a few strands of their own hair, plucked from their head, they got the same result. By now they had to open a window, to clear out the bad smell filling the kitchen.

Vervain discovered that wool did not make a good wick, plunking their fists on their hips, they frowned at the basket of yarn scraps. Well, that wasn't going to work. Picking up the basket, they went to return it to Jaden's work room.

"Hello, Vervain," the stripey terrestrial smiled, but immediately tilted their head at the look on Vervain's face. "I take it…"

"It didn't work, but I guess I still learned something." Vervain set the basket down where Jaden usually kept it. "Wool and fire are like oil and water, they don't mix!"

"You know, I was planning on trying to experiment with spinning plant fibers at some point. Do you remember that tree bark that was all shredy and stringy? Or those fluffy puffy plants?"

Vervain nodded, when they went out to find mushrooms and acorns together, they had also found lots of different and interesting plants in the woods. The frown slowly vanished from their face. "Yeah..?"

"Dry plants already burn pretty easily, I'm sure we can figure out what makes a good wick, for your candle project, together. Let's go out and gather some new materials in a little while. The sun will still be up for a few more hours. I could use a break from sitting, what do you say?"

"Yes!"

(WC: 613)