Oh, what to do with that leftover grease from cooking?  Pour it down the drain?  Throw it in the trash?  How about instead to save it and make candles?  Now, that's recycling!  The photo above is a reshaped cotton ball (100% cotton) and some melted beef tallow!  Really!

These are three different ways to make a wick out of an extra large 100% cotton ball. The ROPE wick, the TOOTHPICK wick and the HERSHEY KISS wick!  

To make the ROPE wick, pull and gently lengthen the cotton ball to a long, skinny rectangle about 12 inches long.  Start by twisting in the middle until it curls on itself.  Pinch in place with thumb and index finger.  With other hand, continue to twist towards you and then overlap piece over to you, pinch down on this part and continue till you run out of material.  It should look like the object on the left! (Maybe even better than that!  HaHa!)

The TOOTHPICK wick requires a sturdy toothpick and make sure that the pointy end will be at the bottom.  Take the cottonball and gently pull and stretch till its in a flat square shape.  The shape should be longer than the toothpick as the extra length will be on the top.  Put the toothpick on the edge of the cottonball with excess on top and the pointed end of the toothpick showing.  Roll tightly like a sushi roll till you get to the other end.  Twist the top to make a pointed end and twist bottom to secure.

The HERSHEY KISS wick is the easiest to make as all you need to do is flatten the cottonball a little, then pull up the other side and twist.  Super simple!

Use any heat resistant container (use your imagination!) and some pliable wire for the rope wick and the toothpick wick.  For the rope wick, twist wire to hold the twisted end of the rope and coil the rest of the wire to hold the wick high in the container and to stabilize the wick.  

For the toothpick wick, coil the end of the toothpick with wire to stand vertical and coil the rest of the wire to stabilize the toothpick in the container.

The hershey kiss wick should be placed in a low container as the top of the wick needs to be free of the fat.  Just place the wick inside and you are ready for the fat!

The fats that you use can be beef tallow, bacon grease, butter, lamb fat or any fat that solidifies when cooled!  You're thinking that it must smell awful when burning!  Actually, I don't really smell anything until I blow it out!  That's when I cover it with a lid!  HaHa!

Fat solidifies in three sections.  The top contains impurities, and the bottom is sediments.  So, the middle area is what you want to use.  Scape into microwaveable container.  Microwave until the fat becomes liquid.  Pour melted fat over the wick in the container and fill, but don't cover the wick top.  Light with lighter.  I have learned that the pointier the wick, the easier it is to light.  

Enjoy what you have created with your own hands and feel proud that you have made use of materials usually thrown away!  Are you seeing the light?  HaHa!