How to Use Paraffin Wax

Paraffin is a synthetic wax made from petroleum and is prized for being both inexpensive and highly versatile. Available for purchase in stores ranging from craft to grocery, paraffin is useful for projects ranging from candle-making to sculpting to the creation of wax lining. While you can melt paraffin in your own kitchen, a few tricks and the right process will help you get the most satisfactory results.

Things You'll Need

• Microwavable container
• Paraffin wax
• Cutting board and knife or cheese grater
• Microwave
• Craft brush

Instructions

1. Break the paraffin into small pieces, the smaller the better; the more consistently small the pieces are, the more quickly and consistently they'll melt. Chop up a block of paraffin using a cleaver or chef's knife on a cutting board, or use a grater to reduce the wax to shavings.

2. Place the paraffin into a microwavable container. For best results, use a thick and highly heat-resistant container, such as a microwavable glass measuring cup, as melted wax will become unusually hot, and these containers are meant to stand up to higher heat.

3. Microwave the wax on “high” for a minute at a time. Check the wax after every minute of heating to assess its progress.

4. Mold the wax by hand when it's just starting to soften and change state. At this point, the wax will be soft but not liquid, making it the right consistency to be sculpted into shapes by hand as if it were clay, though you will only have a few minutes before the wax hardens again.

   Skip this step and go on to the next if you're melting the wax to pour into molds or to use as a coating.

5. Continue microwaving a minute at a time until the wax is a liquid. If clumps of wax persist in staying hard after the rest has turned to liquid, give the container a stir to expose those pieces more thoroughly to the heat of the already liquefied wax.

6. Pour the wax into a mold or jar. Lightly grease molds with vegetable oil to ensure that the wax will lift away easily once it's hardened. After pouring, spray the tops of the poured, ready-to-harden wax with rubbing alcohol in an atomizer to pop any bubbles in the wax.

7. Apply coats of wax to a project while it's still wet. Either dip an object into the container of hot, liquid wax--say, if you're going to coat the top of a sealed bottle in wax--or paint the hot wax onto an item with a paintbrush.