Candles Shapes & Sizes

Candles come in all shapes and sizes!

Watching a rerun of Baz Luhrmann’s film Romeo and Juliet, I couldn’t help but be amazed just how well candles evoke the right mood.

In the part of the film where Romeo, played by Leonardo de Caprio, enters the Capulet crypt where his beloved Juliet (Claire Danes) presumably lays dead, the scene is awash with candles. The mere presence of flickering tapers and melting pillars convey such sadness and grief that words were not needed, only Romeo’s heart-wrenching cry amidst a sea of candles.

Our homes may not look like something out of a movie scene but we can learn a thing or two from Baz Luhrmann.

Candles are excellent at setting the mood and, when there is something about an event, a celebration, a special location, or even in one of your “alone times” that you want to enhance, there is a candle size, shape, color and scent out there to help you achieve what you intend.

Take for instance, tapered candles. If you’re “young” enough to have caught Liberace in a show or on tv, his ever-famous candelabrum would always be lit with tapered candles.

Or, perhaps something more recent: if you’ve ever had to sit through Beauty and the Beast dozens of times in a day with your little one, then you’d be familiar with Lumiere, another famous candelabrum lit with tapered candles.

A taper is a slender candle usually from 6 to 18 inches high. Tapers, and their candle holders, adorned many a meal as they were the candle of choice at dinner tables from Roman to Colonial times. They also make their presence felt in numerous religious ceremonies across different denominations such as in Easter candles or in the Jewish menorah.

Tapers would make excellent accent pieces in your home or any space where you would want to invoke elegance and a touch of solemnity. If you want to set up an impressive centerpiece in your home, then pillar candles may just do the trick.

A pillar candle is a thick candle, usually made of hard wax, with a diameter of 3 inches or more, allowing it to stand on its own and burn for a longer amount of time. Pillar candles work much better with a candle stand or holder which serves both a functional (it catches wax drippings, makes the candle stable and reduces the risk of fire) and aesthetic (it can match the candle or also be decorative in itself) purpose.

A grouping of different sized pillar candles, especially in white, can communicate romance and intimacy.

One of the most common types of candles I have at home is the container, jar or filled candle. Candle wax, usually a softer wax such as soy or palm, is poured into a fire-proof container such as glass, ceramic or tin. These types of candles are most often scented and are great for burning individually to scent a room. Because of their containers, they can be safer to burn than, say a pillar candle which can be knocked over. I particularly like having a set of jar candles from the same brand or in the same colors littered around the house, they give my home a unified and classy feel.

The image of rows and rows of children wearing vestments, in a procession towards the altar in a Roman Catholic service, brings to mind the votive candles they were carrying. You may not be familiar with the reference but indeed, votive candles have been used mostly as prayer or religious candles for centuries, after all the word “votive” really means “offering”.

Votives are small cylindrical candles which are usually 2 inches high and 1 ½ inches wide. They look like small pillars when unlit and, when they are to be used, they are placed in a glass, cup or votive holder to hold the wax as it melts.

Today, votive candles come in many colors and scents and can be used for other purposes aside from religious ones. They can enhance the mood as you take a long, leisurely bath or you can combine votives together as an alternative to larger candle centerpieces.

I’ve never seen a gel candle taking center stage in a movie or tv screen but they can be fun to have around. Made from a combination of 95% mineral oil and 5% polymer resin, these candles look clear and come in many colors. If you prefer your candles to be made of natural substances then gel candles may not be for you. Having taken advantage of new technology, the mineral oils are usually derived from petrochemicals and polymer resin is a type of plastic. Visually though, gel candles are quite the novelty as glitter and other materials can be suspended in the gel to make it even more interesting.

In a popular specialty store recently, I saw these creative burners that you put scented oil in and which are heated through the use of tealights. These oil burners may be nothing new but I was struck by the fact that the tealight, one of the smallest candle formats, can be used in a variety of applications.

A tealight is a small candle, usually about 1 inch wide by 1 ½ inches high, which is poured into a metal container. Tealight candles are designed to liquefy completely when lit. They are used to decorate space (they’re great in a group and in elaborate holders) as well as in conjunction with other gadgets such as food warmers and, yes, the oil burner.

There are so many more different forms a candle can take but the six mentioned above are what are quite common these days. They’ve made appearances in film, tv, books and in homes around the world. Scented or unscented, the visual appeal of candles in all shapes and sizes can’t be beat if you want a decorative item that makes both a functional and aesthetic impact.

References:

1.) The National Candle Association, www.candles.org