Did you know that you can gather your own candle wicks in nature? Make your own wicks at home with rushes! You can use rush wicks for DIY rush candles and DIY rushlights.
Rushes have a long tradition as DIY candle wicks. To make your own natural candle wicks, just gather rushes and use them as DIY candle wicks! Rush wicks are even better than braided cotton wicks, in my opinion. You can use DIY rush wicks for DIY beeswax candles, DIY tallow candles, DIY rushlights and even DIY oil lamps!
Rush Wicks Better Than Cotton Wicks
In my opinion, rushes are even superior to cotton wicks. I like to use rushes to make candle wicks and as wicks for DIY oil lamps.
Related: How To Make DIY Candle Wicks With Cotton String – 3 Ways
Rush wicks are all natural, sustainable, non-toxic, don’t smell, don’t soot, burn for a long time with a steady flame, are self-consuming (no need to trim the wick), are cheap and readily available. No wonder that rush wicks have been used since ancient times as DIY wicks! Rushes were used for rush candles and rushlights long before cotton wicks became popular as candle wicks in medieval times.
Rushlights Vs. Rush Candles – What’s The Difference?
Rushes were used for rushlights as well as for rush candles. A rush candle is just a regular candle with a rush as wick. Rush candles were made either with tallow or beeswax.
A rushlight, on the other hand, is a rush wick dipped only once into waste animal fat or leftover cooking grease. Rushlights were the poor man’s candle because real candles were too expensive. But rushlights were cheap and easy to make with waste materials.
How To Make DIY Candle Wicks With Rushes
1. Gather Rushes
The best time to gather rushes is late summer or early fall. But for these rush candles I gathered the rushes in winter and they still work perfectly!
As always when wild foraging, gather responsibly and sustainably: Pick only a few rushes from one plant and don’t gather more than you need.
2. Soak In Water
Either peel the rushes immediately or submerge them in a bucket of water. Let the rushes soak in water overnight or longer until you can easily peel the rushes.
3. Peel Rushes
Now peel the green outer layer from the white spongy pith of the rushes. Remove all green except one small strip. This strip stabilizes the DIY rush wick. By the way, some rushes are easier to peel than others.
How To Make Candles With DIY Rush Wicks
DIY Rush Candles
You can either use tallow or beeswax to make DIY rush candles.
Simply substitute the natural candle wicks for the cotton wicks and make DIY candles. You can make dipped candles, poured candles, jarred candles or molded candles – all work with DIY rush wicks!
DIY Oil Lamp With Rush Wicks
If you want to make an oil lamp with rush wicks, simply use a peeled rush in place of cotton wicks.
DIY Rushlights
And if you want to make rushlights with leftover cooking grease, click on the link below for the tutorial.
Related: How To Make Rushlights
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I have just started to make candles and happened to find your page. I am curious to try the more historical ways to create wicks and candles. I look forward to reading more and discovering what your site has to offer.
Thank you! 😀 Glad you find it helpful!