Begging a favor from Europe

A few years ago my mom bought a windmill nativity in Germany that is powered by candles. It arrived in the mail without candles. US candles will not fit, we have been unable to find any that work. The closest we can find are 1/2" in diameter, which works out to about 2.2 cm and they are just slightly too small (the candles fall out, even melting a little wax in the bottom of the candleholders).

Please? Are taper candles 2.5 cm common in Europe? They should be 12-15 cm tall, white, I would love to have a dozen of them and I will send you the price plus postage, as well as a thank-you gift.

Yes, I took a photo of this unique nativity and I should have them back on Friday. I will post it then (or maybe on Saturday -- lots of family coming Friday for Christmas celebration).

LupineLover ~~~

Please email me your mailing address and I will forward it to my mother~in~law in Germany. The candles come in boxes of twenty.

Remember to tell us what color candles you want.

My mother in law will send the candles directly to you. She speaks excellent English and is a FABULOUS gardener (hint, hint, you work it out).

Do not worry about the postage or candle price.

Merry Christmas.

Adam.

Here is a photo of the windmill nativity set. Unusual, huh? Notice how the candles are wobbled over.

Adam, you are so thoughtful :) I can't thank you enough.

LupineLover ~~~

Lovely.

We've seen many like it.

The candles are on their way to you from my inlaws in Delve.

Enjoy.

Adam.

Look at a home center or hardware store for "museum wax" or "earthquake wax" This is a gummy type of soft wax that is great for holding slightly undersized candles down. It is also very useful under small objects on a shelve to reduce the risk of vibration causing them to fall. A couple of internet sources http://www.safetystore.com/Quakehold.asp and http://www.quakekare.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=75&p_catid=7&sid=7tv7ME0l2AANBuY

George is absolutely correct, I have used "museum wax" for various little jobs. It's a great product.

Adam.

Lupine Lover, I just finished wrapping my collection of nativity sets, I have 60 of them now, ranging size from about 1" to 12". I don't have the kind you were referring to that use candles, I have seen them. You might try a product, I think called 'Stickum", it is used in flower arranging, but I use it for lots of purposes. I have used it to hold candles in place. Donna

Rutholive, you must be a soul-sister to my mom. She also collects nativity scenes. I haven't counted hers, but maybe 20? Most of hers have been purchased in her world-travels, but a few are very old. One of them was purchased in Germany prior to WWI, another was purchased in Buffalo NY in about 1901. I got her a hand-carved stone one for Mother's Day that she had admired.

I have tried various products used to hold candles, but none of them worked for these. Maybe because the holders are so shallow? I tried melting a bit of paraffin into the bottoms of the holders; I tried sheet bees-wax; I tried the foam that grips the bottoms of candles. None of them worked well enough that the candles could be lit to make the windmill go around. They still tilted wildly, and could very easily have fallen out and caught the whole thing on fire.

Here is a photo of the oldest of our nativity sets (the one from Buffalo). My grandmother bought it about age 5 with money she received from her godmother.