Girl holding candles. MERIAM BOUCHTOUT
The Malden Public Library’s Young Adult program hosts one movie night and one arts and crafts event each month. For the month of January, the library is hosting a Candle Making Craft event where attendees from grades 6-12 can melt candles and add their own scents and colors to make the perfect gift for friends and family.
Most of the materials that were brought for the candle crafting mostly came from “Amazon and some candle kits that are economical,” stated librarian Patrick Brennan, who helped organize the event. “All of the programs are provided by The Friends of the Malden Public Library and the budget is usually 50 to 100 dollars per craft.”
Attendees were guided through a series of simple and relatively easy steps to making a candle. The first step was to heat up the candle wax. While the candle wax was heating up, they were given wicks and containers and were told to stick the wick to the bottom of the container using a sticky pad. Then, add the candle wax, the scents, and coloring and mix. There is a tool that is used to hold up the wick while the wax cools down. After the wax cooled down, attendees enjoyed their new creation: a custom, self-made candle.
Candlemaking is one of the various art activities that the Young Adult program in the Malden Public Library has. In two weeks, the MPL will host a perler beads craft in the Program Room at the library. People can also look forward to “a friendship bracelet craft on February 8th, and on February 22nd, a make-your-own lip balm craft,” stated Brennan.
With so many events at the library, one may ask who comes up with the ideas for all the events, and surprisingly, the library gets its suggestions from teens who come in and also look at crafts online for some ideas.
Overall, the library hopes to continue to establish a strong and lasting relationship with the community and bring more people over to enjoy their events.
