How to Care for and Clean Christmas Window candles

Hello, how often have you taken you vintage window candles out year after year, and noticed how dingy they have become. Quite often, typical practice was to tape the window candle to the wooden sill, which often left marks behind on your candle bases. The materials used to make the candles varied over the years, and the tape did as well. Wooden based candles and candoliers, often were painted an off-white color, in many cases gradiant coloration was used. Cardboard tubes stood as sentinels in your windows. They collected dust and dirt over years, but fear not - they can be cleaned easily, often restoring much of the luster they once had. This same process can be used for the more current plastic varieties as well. Often with these, we wrapped the electric cords around the bases of the tubes. Little did we know the rubber, and vinyl material used would react with the plastic often "melting" cords marks into the plastic of the candles. In some cases the melting effects are severe, and can not be cleaned effectively enough for a nice display piece.
First, get a small bottle of common household ammonia, along with a clean soft cotton rag. I prefer lemon scented sudsy ammonia., over the clear type, as I have found it works better. Wear a pair of rubber cleaning gloves, so you don't risk exposure to the cleaning agent. Eye protection is also recommended to avoid irration from the ammonia fumes. Wet a small area of the rag with the ammonia, and gently start wiping the candle. For your wooden based candles, check to make sure you are not going to strip the paint by the use of ammonia......test a small area.....I have rarely ever had this happen. Proceed cleaning the base, and ever so gently wipe the cardboard tubes....you do not want to soak the piece, just wipe it with the damp cloth. You will see the results on the rag. Repeat the process with a lightly dampen rag with water, and let it dry. Now you are free to use your best furniture wax to bring the luster back to the piece, for either cardboard or plastic tubes. For the plastic variety, use the same process, however if the melting cord marks are significant, you might want to consider discarding that particular candle, and looking for a replacement. Almost all the vintage styles are available on ebay....keep watching, and find a quality piece....you can still find them at very reasonable prices.
As with any vintage electrical piece, always check to make sure the wiring is good condition. Vinyl cords can be cleaned with the ammonia as well, which makes a great time to check for any cracking of the vinyl.....or any worn bare spots. If you find any, it's always safer to replace the candle or have it rewired. Make sure the candle is unplugged before cleaning.
Feel free to ask a question - I'll be glad to answer it and share information in a future blog posting.
All the best. Paul & Brian
www.TheRoyalstonAttic.com