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HOMEMADE MULLEIN CANDLES

There is a widespread and abundant plant in North America that just has a seemingly endless amount of uses. Of all of the uses for this plant which I have talked about and made many videos about, there is one we will be talking about today. Just a few simple steps and ingredients and this plant can be made into some very nice candles that have some surprising medicinal qualities.

MY WATERPROOF EDIBLE PLANTS GUIDE IS NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON! It is the go-to guide for foraging in a hurry.

For some easy fire starters that are just as cheap and easy to make, try my homemade fire starters! Which use all throw away items from your home and make something very useful with them.

Also, while you are out harvesting mullein and happen to run into some mushrooms, check out my post on how to identify chanterelle mushrooms!

If you would like tips on how to identify this plant as well as some other uses for it, check out one of my tiktok videos about this plant right HERE!

A complete mullein torch candle

This plant is so useful that I am always finding more uses for it. Making candles is easier than you might think and even they have more than one use to them.

I didn’t realize I was going to like this process so much until my wife decided that she wanted to try it together. I already had a bunch of candles so all we needed was to go get some mullein.

Mullein seed heads are best harvested in the fall when they are brown and dry thus, you will remove the seed head by snapping it off of the rest of the plant.

My goofy face, my youngest son, and a very nice mullein seed head.

How to identify mullein:

Mullein grows in every state in the United States. It has large leaves that are fuzzy on both sides.

Mullein produces long seed heads that have yellow flowers and eventually turn brown.

A basal rosette of mullein leaves
Harvesting leaves for making medicine and incense

The leaves are so fuzzy!

Close up of a seed head of the mullein plant

This close up is of the seed head that we are going to be making our torches!

Harvest as many of these seed heads as you need to, to make the amount of candles that you want to make.

Cut them into sections for ease of working with:

Whole seed head from a mullein plant which produced a whole bunch of seed heads on one plant.
Breaking down the mullein seed heads in to more manageable pieces

By breaking them down into smaller pieces, it makes it easier to dip them and to manage them overall.

Melt wax for dipping mullein seed heads:

Melting cheap candles on the stove in a double boiler

You can use left over candles or purchase cheap ones from the dollar store.

Either way works fine but the dollar store candles are whipped and have a lot of air in them! So even though you are buying them for cheap you only end up with half the amount of wax that you thought you had bought.

I like to only use one candle container to dip and when it starts getting low I fill it with the others.

Dip your seed heads in the wax:

You are going to dip them and then let them cool before you dip them again. You will end up dipping them 5 or 6 times to get the right amount of wax on them.

Mullein seed heads cooling in between dips

For the cooling process for these rather large items we used a clothes drying rack. I tied the ends with string and used the clothespins to hold them onto the rack.

Place something underneath to catch the dripping wax so you don’t make too big of a mess.

Finished rack of mullein candles

They should be coated thoroughly when done. I personally will make them coated to the point where I could dip them into water and they will not get water logged and will still light.

Light one and try it out:

Snip the tip of off the torch to expose a little bit of the mullein plant. This makes it easier and faster to light because if you don’t there is a lot of wax on the tip.

Wow it works! It works better than I though it would. Just a small chunk of this mullein will burn for a very long time.

The fumes from the burning mullein are medicinal!

Mullein is a plant which has been used as a medicine for lung issues for thousands of years! Not only is this a functional use of the mullein plant as a torch or candle. It is also medicinal and beneficial to burn in your home.

Mullein Candles

Mullein Candles

There is a widespread and abundant plant in North America that just has a seemingly endless amount of uses. Of all of the uses for this plant which I have talked about and made many videos about, there is one we will be talking about today. Just a few simple steps and ingredients and this plant can be made into some very nice candles that could also properly be called torches!

Prep Time 30 minutes
Active Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Difficulty Easy

Materials

  • Mullein seed heads
  • Wax for melting
  • String for hanging

Tools

  • Cooking pot with water
  • Drying rack of some sort

Instructions

  1. Harvest mullein seed heads
  2. Cut them to a manageable size around 6-12 inches
  3. Melt wax
  4. Dip the mullein seed heads in wax
  5. Let them hang to cool in between dips
  6. Dip them 5 or 6 times for a thick coat of wax
  7. If you can before you light one, snip the tip off with a pair of scissors
  8. Light it to check your work!

Notes

Harvest the mullein seed heads when they are brown and bone dry for best results. If you must harvest them when they are damp let them hang out somewhere warm and dry to dry out completely before you dip them in wax.

Get creative with melting wax, dipping, and dripping. Not everyone has the same resources and it does not have to be so specific.

Eligh Miller-Polivka
Latest posts by Eligh Miller-Polivka (see all)

B

Friday 8th of September 2023

The smoke from the mullein plant is medicinal but the smoke from the cheap dollar store candles is toxic so if your really looking for safety and medicinal properties please use bees wax only.

Eligh Miller-Polivka

Friday 8th of September 2023

Do you make candles yourself?

Eligh Miller-Polivka

Friday 8th of September 2023

Hey I think that is a fantastic Idea. Thank you for the information! My good friend raises bees and I know I can get good wax.

Freda Ditmore

Sunday 23rd of July 2023

Live in Oklahoma myself. Always looking to learn something new. Love the lambs quarter you have pictured on your subscribe page. We were always poor growing up and had big gardens. So anything we could get off the land was free. Sand plums. Chokeberries. We never bought jam. Thanks for the subscribe.

Eligh Miller-Polivka

Sunday 10th of September 2023

Wow that is very interested. Did you find you guys always had plenty to eat from foraging?

Tina Kilduff

Sunday 9th of July 2023

Definitely going to try these this fall! If I see left over seed heads from last year, do you think they’d still make good candles?

Karma

Sunday 29th of January 2023

Great Idea ! but in what container do you keep them when you burn them inside without dripping wax everywhere?

realgoodbear

Wednesday 28th of September 2022

Thank you for posting these instructions. I'm going to make some mullein candles this autumn.

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