How were candles made by the pilgrims?

Answer 1

I dunno if this helps but I remember going to a village where you can make all sorts of things like candles! It was really cool experience! When we made the candles they gave us a piece of string to start off with and we dipped it into a barrel full of melted wax. We continually dipped the string into the wax and lifted it back up and let that layer dry for a minute or two and slowly dipped it back in the wax again until layer after layer it got bigger =) I'm not sure if this is titally how they did it but I remember a pilgrim cosplayer shwing me this when I was little xD

Answer 2

The rushlight, dating from antiquity, was merely a dry stem of a rush plant, dipped in animal fat. They were very cheap, and simply made, and existed right up to the 20th century.

With the availability of tallow; a byproduct of fat rendering for soap making; this was used to form a candle of about 20mm diameter and 250mm long, and having a wick running through the centre.

Later on, by mid 20th century, this type was displaced by paraffin wax candles.

You may make these by two methods. Repeated dipping of a candle wick in a pot of melted fat, will build up a goodly layer of tallow on the wick. (Rush reeds were still commonly used.) Higher productivity is obtained by having several wicks tied to a thin length of wood, and the group being dipped at the same time.

Nowadays, they are made from paraffin wax, and are cast into a mould of appropriate shape.