Melanie Spicher has always been a do-it-yourselfer. "I'm used to doing things for myself, that's for sure," Melanie says. "If the car needed fixing or the washer wasn't working, I'd give it a try. So there's nothing unusual about coming out here to the garage and getting my hands dirty." There's little room in her garage for a car or just about anything else since Melanie began working with wax. "I've tried just about every craft there is, but I became bored so easily," Melanie explains. "The one thing that just kept calling me back was wax. I made every kind of candle imaginable, and that can be a challenge, but I find real satisfaction in making these wax luminaries." Melanie creates luminaries from a wax compound that will not melt when exposed to the flame of a votive candle. The secret is a plastic additive that acts as a hardening agent when combined with the liquid wax. "They're very safe," says Melanie, "though people look at me funny when I tell them that the luminaries are made of wax. They're sure the luminaries will melt or get hot, but they don't." Melanie begins by determining what decorative elements she will add to the wax compound. "Each one is different," she explains, "because the elements I add rest differently in the liquid wax. It's just about impossible to create two that look exactly alike." The elements, such as flowers, wheat or seashells, float in the wax while it cools. The trick comes in knowing what elements to add, and where to place them. Choosing from nearly 100 stainless steel molds that line her garage wall, Melanie begins adding the elements and arranging them with a tool that looks like a drumstick (figure A). Once the elements are arranged, Melody pours the two hundred-degree liquid wax into stainless steel molds. "You have to think dimensionally when you place the elements," Melanie explains. "You can't actually see where they are floating, so you have to imagine it and move things around if necessary. Then you just wait until the wax cools to find out how accurate you are." When the wax has hardened, the luminaries easily slip out of the mold (figure B). The tops are then smoothed with a hot iron, and the project is complete and ready for lighting. A votive candle is placed in a small glass holder and lowered into Melanie's luminary, where it is lighted. The glow of candlelight fills the luminary and the darkened garage where Melanie has always done things herself.
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