LITERALLY Wickless Wednesday: Cutting Votives to Burn as Tarts

Welcome to LITERALLY Wickless Wednesday!

I recently saw a YouTube video by Jdazzler15 on how to dissect a votive to use in a tart warmer, and she brought up an EXCELLENT point: one Yankee Candle votive is almost twice as much as a Yankee Candle tart, by volume! At $2 a piece (though I only stock up on $1 sales), that's a pretty big difference size wise! You want to get as much bang for your buck, and she had some simple tips on how to do this efficiently and easily! I took photos so you can see just how easy it is. Follow along below (but watch her videos, too, because she has really great hauls and reviews)!

Step 1: Start with a tart, whatever brand or scent you want. I just happen to have a lot of Yankee tarts on hand. Josh picked out Farmer's Market, which is an enticing blend of fruits and spices (why, yes, that IS the Yankee Candle website in the background...I was telling him the differences between the one above and Season's Blessings).

Step 2: Unwrap the tart and stick the wick straight up in the air.

Step 3: Turn the votive upside down.

Step 4: Use a knife or another pointy-ish object and SLOWLY wedge it underneath the metal bottom of the wick, propping it up ever so slightly. I use a butter spreader because it's not sharp and, since I only use one of the two my grandma gave me, this little guy needed to be used!
***WARNING: If you DO use a knife or any other sharp object, PLEASE be careful. The wax is slippery and it might take a bit of nudging to pry the metal out of the bottom of the candle. I say this because I've poked myself with this blunt butter spreader a few times and even THAT hurt.

Step 5: Slowly begin to pull the wick out through the bottom of the votive. If it breaks, don't worry about it, but take your time!

Step 6: TA-DA! Do what you want with the wick, I just toss mine.

Step 7: Put your knife/whatever object you are using on either the top of the candle in the hole where the wick was, or the hole at the bottom of the candle where the metal used to be. Slowly begin to cut the candle in half.
*NOTE: each time I have tried this, even with gentle movement, the candle tended to cut on its own!

Now you have two nice, even(ish) tarts!

Enjoy! Here, I have melted one half of the votive, but I've also used both halves at once, and they both work quite well; the throw is just as good if not better than the throw you'd get if you were to burn the votive on its own.

Of course, not everyone has the time, the desire, or the need to cut their candles in half. It really doesn't take that long, and in these hard economic times, you want to stretch your dollar as far as you can, and this is one way to do it!

Hope this helps you! Enjoy your day! :)