Answers to frequently asked questions & useful tips
A Candelah is a light-refracting candle holder consisting of
a glass holder
a sleeve (which is individually fitted to and hand-sewn around the glass) and
a tea light candle in a clear case
On lighting the little tea light candle, the light of the flame is refracted inside the glass holder, which creates unexpected shapes. As the flame flickers, the shapes start moving lightly inside the glass holder, giving the Candelah an “alive-kind-of feel”.
There are four types of Candelahs:
The “Dancing Star” Candelah
The “Rainbow Moments” Candelah
The “Rays of Delight” Candelah and
The “Glitter Cloud” Candelah
The “Dancing Star” as well as the “Rays of Delight” Candelahs come not only in clear (white), but also in 7 additional colours: red, gold, pink, green, blue, purple and bronze.
We are sometimes asked if there is also a Colour Rainbow Candelah – and the answer is “no”. The Rainbow Candelah is colourful in itself. We have tried adding colours to the Rainbow Candelah, but found that this cancels out the colours the Rainbow Candelah naturally produces.
The Glitter Cloud Candelah is currently also only available in clear (white).
We are happy to custom-make any colour Glitter Cloud (or Rainbow) Candelahs.
You can, but we prefer the use of tea lights in clear cases for Candelahs, because
the metal case will throw a (slight) shadow at the bottom of the glass holder and – more importantly
as the wax level of the tea light candle drops, so does the flame. Candelahs need the light of the flame for the refraction, but the light cannot travel through the metal case (but it can travel through the clear case). In other words: if a tea light in a clear case is used, the refraction is always fully visible, but if a metal tea light case is used, the bottom part of the refracted shape will (at lower wax-levels) be visibly blocked. Some people aren’t bothered by this, but we recommend the use of clear tea light cases to achieve optimal visual results.
All Candelahs come with one 6h burning tea light in a clear case.
The manufacturers of tea lights in clear cases do not specify whether or not the clear cases are reusable, suggesting they recommend to always use a new tea light in a clear case.
For safety reasons we cannot advise you to reuse clear tea light cases – but we can tell you that we do. Whilst the clear cases don’t last forever (they can singe if a flame comes too close), we reuse them many times and only discard them once they look unsightly.
Here is how we refill a clear tea light case once the original tea light candle has burned to the end:
squeeze the clear case a few times so as to loosen any remaining, hardened wax at the bottom of the case – as well as to loosen the round, silver disc that used to hold the wick of the candle
remove all contents inside the clear case
remove the metal case of any new 4h or 6h tea light candle
insert the new candle into the entirely empty case.
We offer a (hand-decorated and inexpensive) box containing twenty 4h burning tea light candles without cases – for the easy refill of clear cases.
Please reuse clear cases responsibly and at your own discretion and risk.
No – don’t throw them away – metal tea light cases are great!
Collect them, shape them, arrange them in a pattern and turn them into a nice indoor or outdoor mandala OR
use our upcycled greeting cards as inspiration and create some yourself! All you need is a small straight pair of scissors, a pair of curved nail-scissors, some glue and some white or coloured cardboard! Send us a picture of your designs – we would to see what you have made!
PS: even children old enough to handle scissors can do this!
PPS: The internet is also always full of ideas!
Unfortunately not really. The light of a digital tea light is diffused, meaning it is spread over an area. Candelahs need a single, strong source of light, like that of a flame. A flame additionally provides random flickering, giving Candelahs their mesmerizing character.
If a digital tea light were inserted into a Candelah, it would produce a faint and stationary picture of the refracted shape.
Like any candle, Candelahs have an “open flame” (despite being behind a glass wall) and therefore want to be treated with caution and respect. A lit candle (including a Candelah) should never be left unattended.
It is known that in rare instances, a wax candle can catch fire – meaning not only the wick, but the entire surface of a candle is alight. It is assumed as likely that this occurrence isn’t caused by one factor, but by several coming together. Please also read through below link to educate yourself further.
Despite literally burning through thousands of tea light candles, BEEING has thankfully never had a candle fire – nor were we able to recreate one, trying to set a candle alight on purpose – but we know of two instances where this has indeed happened. In both cases, the owners of the candles were present and able to prevent a fire.
With this once more: please do not leave any lit candle / Candelahs unattended – and keep them away from children and pets.
Absolutely! Worst case scenario: your Candelah gets wet – which doesn’t really matter as you can simply dry the Candelah (take off the sleeve to dry the area inbetween the glass and the sleeve as well).
Bear in mind that too much sunlight not only prematurely ages your Candelah, but will also cancel out the light of the flame (so during broad daylight, you will not see the refraction of a Candelah properly).
Wind-gusts might blow the flame out. We have played this game with wind before. Wind won – no matter our clever moves!
Candelahs look amazing on balmy nights – no matter whether indoors or outdoors!
Please remember not to leave any lit candle (including Candelahs) unattended – be it outside or inside.
Of course!
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to clean a Candelah:
Remove the sleeve from the Candelah by placing your thumb onto the stitching of the sleeve and slide down. Please remember that each Candelah is handmade. Some sleeves sit relatively loosely around the glass whereas others may have a tight fit
If you have a colour Candelah, there will be two parts to the sleeve. The light-refracting part which is sewn and the colour inlay, which is wrapped around the glass. Remove both from the glass
Using a pointy tool, scratch out any spilled wax and all remains of the Prestik (TikTak). Prestik, heat and water really do not go well toegther!
Pour boiling hot water straight from the kettle into the glass (making sure the sleeve is far away from the heat of the water!) OR place the glass into the dishwasher
If you poured hot water into the glass holder, leave to stand for around 1 minute and pour the hot water out. Dry the now sparkling clean glass. careful – it’s hot! Best use a dish-cloth to hold the glass.
During the one minute wait, you can clean the sleeve of a STAR or RAINBOW Candelah with Cleaning Benzine. Pour some benzine onto a kitchen towel and gently rub the sleeve on the outside and inside. The sleeves will look like new. Please DO NOT do this with Rays of Delight or Glitter Cloud Candelahs as their structure doesn’t respond well to Cleaning Benzine. Thankfully these two types are not susceptible to show marks easily.
Re-fit the sleeve onto the glass. In case you have a colour Candelah, make sure that the ends of the inlay line up with the stitching of the sleeve.
Look at your clean Candelah as if you are seeing it for the first time 🙂
Oh no! Let’s get rid of it!
There are several reasons why marks can appear on Candelahs. Below find a list of possible causes and their solutions:
Trapped Particles
Particles / hair / dust might be trapped between the glass and the sleeve. To resolve please
put your thumb unto the stitching and slide down the sleeve. Remove the sleeve via the bottom of the glass
Inspect the sleeve and glass and remove any particles.
Refit the sleeve
Watermarks
Especially when the air is humid, “watermarks” can appear because moist air is trapped between the sleeve and the glass. It’s not really a mark, but it looks like one. To resolve, best
ignore the mark and wait for better weather (you can use the Candelah nevertheless) OR
remove the sleeve (as mentioned above) and dry the glass and the sleeve. As the air around you is likely still moist, this might prove to be a short-lived solution.
Fingerprints
Cleaning up yummy dinners can easily lead to a fingerprint or two on a Candelah. The Ray and Glitter Cloud Candelahs are thankfully not very susceptible to finger marks – which is great, because below resolution should not be tried on them
To resolve fingerprint marks on a Star or Rainbow Candelah sleeve
remove the sleeve (as mentioned above)
using cleaning benzine on a kitchen towel, gently rub the surface of the sleeve on both sides. The sleeve will look like new! If you haven’t invested in a bottle of cleaning benzine yet, treat yourself to one. It’s inexpensive, very versatile (price-sticker glue good bye) and will last forever! It’s very flammable though – so keep away from flames!
Wax Marks
If wax accidentally spilled onto the glass walls inside a Candelah, it might look like a mark on the outside of a Candelah. Thankfully it isn’t one. To resolve
simply wash the Candelah as described under “Are Candelahs washable”
Heat-related marks
If a Candelah got too hot, it might lead to the sleeve sticking to the glass, resulting in the appearance of a mark – and the profound difficulty to remove the sleeve. To resolve
use a strip of thin plastic (something laminated?) and slide it in between the sleeve and the glass. Rotate the strip once around the glass. The sleeve should come off using this technique and the mark should have vanished.
If the mark has not vanished, chances are the sleeve is heat-damaged in this spot. There is unfortunately no solution for heat-damaged marks, however your Candelah will still be functional.
Sun Damage and Yellowing
The sun is powerful. Any item left in the sun will likely get damaged – and this includes Candelahs. We advise not to “store” Candelahs on sunny window sills, but rather in their packaging when not in use. Sun Damage shows itself in premature yellowing of the sleeve. The Candelah will still be operational, but the sleeve will have lost it’s original clear colour. Yellowing also happens with aging.
Please remember that Candelahs are handmade and little irregularities are part of their character!
Candelahs are handmade and each candle holder is slightly different. Some sleeves are easier to remove than others.
Following technique generally works for the removal of the sleeve:
Hold the glass in your left hand, turn it downwards and reach with 3 fingers (except your thumb and the small finger) into the glass.
With the thumb of your right hand on the stitching (it gives friction), slide the sleeve off the bottom of the Candelah.
Should this method not work, it’s likely the sleeve attached itself in places to the glass. This can happen during very humid days or due to too much heat. To resolve
use a strip of thin plastic (something laminated?) and slide it inbetween the sleeve and the glass. Rotate the strip once around the glass. The sleeve should now come off.
If the tea light (or better the flame) is placed central inside the Candelah, the star will have the same size 360° around the glass.
The further the flame is away from the middle of the Candelah – and the glass-wall you are looking at, the bigger the star. And vice versa. the closer the light-source to the glasswall you are looking at, the smaller the star.
Use this knowledge to always ensure the best display for every situation.
Only love lasts forever 🙂
Candelahs have been shining since 2017 – and so far so good! As you can see: we do not yet have an answer to this question – but if you look nicely after your Candelah, it will without doubt last a few years.
Place your Candelah at eye height – so you and others can see the full refraction of the Candelah
Sunlight is very bright. Choose a spot for the Candelah which isn’t too “sun-kissed” (away from windows). The darker the spot, the more beautiful your Candelah will shine.
Use the provided piece of Prestik (TikTak) to secure the tea light to the bottom.
If you are sitting around a table, make sure the tea light (or better the flame) is placed centrally inside the Candelah. This ensures a 360° same-sized refraction – so no matter which Candelah-side is looked at, the star will look the same.
If only one side of the Candelah is looked at, you might want to move the tea light (and hence the flame) a little towards the back (careful – not too much. You don’t want the flame too close to the glass wall as this could heat-damage the sleeve). The further the flame from the point you are looking at, the bigger the star. The closer the light-source to the wall of the Candelah, the smaller the star.
Turn the stitching to the least looked-at side
We wish you many hours of visual happiness with your Candelah!
Tea Light candles almost seem to have their own little personalities. Some burn until the last drop of wax is used, others leave half the wax content unusable. Some have enormous flames, others don’t want to burn at all. That said, tea lights do have some things in common. Here is what we learned:
The quality of tea lights can vary a lot. We recommend to invest in good quality tea lights candles.
Once a tea light is burning, don’t blow it out until the entire top surface is molten, as otherwise a “wax-crate” is created. Not only will this lead to a shorter lifetime of your tea light candle, the wax-walls around the flame will also dim / hide the light of the flame, and therefore impact on the refraction.
Some tea lights have long wicks (or burn in a way that leaves a long wick) which in turn leads to a big flame. Others have short wicks, displaying a smaller flame. In case of a Candelah, bigger isn’t better. We found that long wicks with big flames tend to refract to a “fuzzy, unclear” image, whereas shorter wicks create a crisp and clear refraction. Therefore we cut the wick should it be too long. Be careful with cutting wicks though: a too short wick and hence a too tiny flame will either create a faint refraction only or not burn at all. A good wick-length is about 7mm (measured from the wax-circle).
Wax melts and becomes completely liquid. Once it is liquid, the wax can spill inside the Candelah. Best not to move a lit Candelah too much.