Spirit, salad oil, an iron and a cork: this is how you get rid of stains and circles from candle wax | Cleaning tips

A reader of this column is at a loss. “Candle wax stains have appeared on my mango wood coffee tables. I let them dry and then removed them with a plastic scraper. Only: now there are visible circles on the tables. I’ve googled, but haven’t found the solution yet.”

Well, then you’ve come to the right place with our Hague cleaning guru. “I am a real candle girl myself. Or rather: candle lady. I’m not a girl anymore. In the morning I always turn on three tea lights, that’s my ritual. Recently I wanted to buy candles again, but I really had to grab the shelf! We have to cut back, so a lot of people are going to light candles again. First you had the toilet rolls, now the tealights. Every crisis comes with a product, it’s something for me every time!”

Anyway: candle wax. “Candle wax stains are difficult stains that really require our attention,” says Marja. “Imagine: candle wax has been spilled on your wooden table. You can immediately put an ice cube on it so that it becomes cold and hard. Then you can remove most of the candle wax with your beautifully painted nails. Or do it with something made of plastic, so you don’t cause damage. So no fiddling with a sharp knife.”

Often something remains. A layer that is not easy to get off. ,,And now, exclamation mark, exclamation mark, it becomes difficult. Of course you want your table to be shiny and smooth again. You take a piece of paper towel and fold it in half. Then you put it on the spot and get busy with the iron. That sounds pretty exciting, so you put it on the lowest setting. Not on the steam setting! Then you make moisture stains. The paper keeps absorbing through that iron, you can see the grease in your paper. You heat it up, and the paper soaks up the grease. Keep it higher and higher until you see that some grease is coming off. Look closely every time. And: always take a piece of clean paper. At some point the fat is gone.”

But: a circle remains. “Or it looks whitish. Now I have a very old-fashioned method, for which there is actually no better. What do you need? An old-fashioned cork, spirit, salad oil and a container. You fill that container two-thirds with salad oil and one-third with alcohol. With that cork you go through the soppie. That is quite a bit of work, because the spirit and salad oil do not mix well. So you have to keep running,” says Marja enthusiastically.

Then remove the cork from the mixture. “With the cork you go on the piece of wood while turning. And just turn and turn and turn… Until you think, that Mar, with those tips of hers, that makes no sense. And then, just then, you suddenly see some gray foam appear! Then you will see, if you wipe that away and you go over the wood with some polish, that the stains are gone. That’s a small miracle. It also works with water circles. I very much hope that I have helped the lady with the table in this way.”

Prevention is better than cure. “I have already told you that with some salt water you can prevent a candle from leaking. But I have one more tip. Sometimes you can’t get a candle in or out of the candlestick easily. Because you have already worked with salad oil, you need to dip salad oil at the bottom of a candle. A hand cream or something else greasy also works. You will see: the candle will slide, hopsakee, into that candlestick again.”

Do you want to ask Marja Middeldorp a question? Send an e-mail to this address ([email protected]) with your name. See more cleaning tips below: