Did you entertain at your house this fall and winter? Did you light candles? If you did, you likely ran into the same problem I did: candle wax on a mirror (or glass). We have this beautiful framed mirror that leans on our mantel and I love the look of candles burning in front of it. But sometimes I am less than careful when extinguishing my candles and I get a little candle wax on my mirror. And then, like a good homemaker, I leave it there until…spring! I know, I am bad.
I put off tackling this chore because I thought it would prove rather difficult and I didn’t want to do it the wrong way and end up with scratches on my mirror. But it really is easy! To remove wax from a mirror it takes only a few minutes of hands-on time and can be completed as part of your regular cleaning routine. Or you can sit on the couch and wait during the hands-off times – go ahead, you are still getting something done!
Here are the quick and easy instructions for how to remove wax from a mirror (or glass):
Before you begin, prep the surface. Pull the mirror off the wall (if it is removable) and set on a level surface. If it it is not removable, see the note in step two.
Here is my mirror before:
Step #1
Fill a small sandwich bag with ice. Place the ice on the mirror where the wax is. Note: if you cannot remove your mirror from the wall, you may want to use some painter’s tape to secure all sides of the sandwich bag to the mirror.
Leave the bag on the mirror for about 10 minutes. The ice hardens the wax.
Step #2
Remove ice from the mirror. Use a small scraper to gently scrape the wax away from the mirror. You could use a butter knife, but a scraper would be less likely to scratch because it does not have sharp edges. A credit card or hard plastic edge is ideal. Remove the wax that will come up in pieces.
It’s okay if some of the wax is still stuck to the mirror. Wipe off what you were able to scrape off and then move onto step #3.
Step #3
Leave your mirror alone for about 10 minutes to let it come back to room temperature. This is very important! You want the mirror to come back to room temperature before you do the next step. Make sure you test the temperature with your hand! Take a hair dryer and set it on the highest setting and heat the surface of the mirror where the wax is. You will want to keep your hair dryer about 2-3 inches away from the surface. You will see the wax disappear (like a magic trick!)!
Step #4
Spray your favorite glass cleaner on the surface of the mirror and wipe away with a lint free soft cloth.
The result of this quick task are wonderful! It is easy to get done in the midst of your regular cleaning routine.
Thank you so much! I surprised my girlfriend by getting the wax off of her vannity mirror and she was so happy! You’re the best!
Yay! That’s awesome!! 🙂
An easier way to get wax off of a married or glass is a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol.
I used a putty knife to scrape wax off then just cleaned with rubbing alcohol.
Sooooo easy!
Thanks for the tip Liz! I will have to try that out next time. 🙂
Leah,
Thank you for the detailed step-by-step. We chose Windex, but included a Mr. Clean Eraser as well.
Thank you for blogging and supporting those in need with your extra sweat in sharing.
Yea! I’m going to do this tomorrow. Thanks for caring and sharing !! 🙂
Thank you!! so much it works very well
Thank you very much Leah; I just followed your instructions and have a perfect centre piece table mirror.
Thank you so much.
Worked a treat on an antique mirror which I could not remove from wall.
Had tried to scrape off the wax with a pot scraper, before but only removed some and spread the wax.
The Ice made all the difference!
Was nervous with the hair-drier and used full heat at half power and rubbed with the cloth as I went along.
Then cleaned as usual.
Restored to Normal. Would recomend.