Candle Making

“It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

Criteria of CAS – Creativity

Approximate time - 8 hours

Venue – D Y Patil International School, Nagpur

Our target is to make 100 candles and then sell them to raise funds to help poor children.

Thursday, 1 August 2013

Today I gave 2 hours in this activity, my aim is to make 4 candles each time. Today was the first day of candle making, I never thought of doing such a creative activity, but I always use to think that how a candle is made and how the manufacturers put a thread/wick into a candle. But today finally I got my answers.

Today I learnt how to make a candle.

1] Take two utensils or steel containers one big and other small and pour water in big one and put the candle wax in the small one, put the small one on big one and heat them.

2] By the time grease the mould.

3] Add colour in wax.

4] As the wax gets melted put a wick in it.

5] Take out that wick and stretch it and try to keep it straight.

6] After the wick gets dry put it into a mould.

7] Pour the wax into the mould.

8] After the candle gets solid take it out.

Today I understood that making candles is not game it takes a lot of patience and good steady hands. There is always a tension that the container will fall because it is made in double container as boiling there are chances of falling and your work getting waste. I made 4 candles today and I am very happy with that.

Thursday, 8 August 2013

Today I gave 2 hours on this activity. As today was second time of candle making, I was prepared to make candles and use to that process of making. For today the target I made for myself was 5 candles. My supervisor Mrs. Deepshri Halve suggested me that I should make star mould candles as it looks very beautiful and everybody likes star shape. I started the process and thought that as this is my first time of making star candles I should make 1 trial candle. But soon I was in danger as I was out of wax, the wax I melted for making my first candle was not sufficient, I discussed this problem with my supervisor and she suggested me either I can present it that way or I should wait for the wax to dry up and add another colour so it will look a double coloured candle.

Today I accomplished my target by making 5 candles, which were looking very beautiful; it was a joyful experience making those pretty candles. Today I learned that there are many ways by which we can hide our mistakes, as I have tried one today I can tell that they are tension releasing things. These things taught me to keep claim and always look for solutions for problems.

Thursday, 22 August 2013

Today I gave 2 hours in this activity. Last week I missed this activity because we had our Independence Day celebration. Today my aim was to make 5 candles I was well known to this process, I did my work punctuality and obedience thinking of people who will get money from selling this candles. These candles will bring brightness and happiness in their lives. Today I made candles of different colours and in diverse moulds.

Thursday, 29 August 2013

Today was the last day of this activity. I gave 2 more hours to this activity which has taught me so much. This activity has been a great experience and fun. As I am doing this activity for weeks, today was the easiest day for making candles. Today we also gave final touch to the candles we have made and pasted price tags on them. Making designs on candles is a very difficult job because you have to be very artistic for that but sticking price tags was easy for me as I am an IB business and management student, so I have a skill of telling which candle is worth of how much money. I was very happy that I have completed this activity and hope that this is just the beginning of my CAS activities.

This activity was not just about making candles but of “helping”, doing a job that will benefit others is difficult but gives you satisfaction that any other thing will not give.

Learning Swimming

This life is like a swimming pool. You dive into the water, but you can't see how deep it is. - Dennis Rodman

Activity Started – 9 August 2013

Activity Ended – 27 August 2013

Approximate Time - 8 hour

Criteria of CAS – Action

9 August 2013 – 1 hour

Swimming is a new challenge I am undertaking. You swim in two condition either you do it for fun or for saving someone’s life. I have always fascinated water and sea. Swimming is very important, if you know how to swim you can save your life as well as someone else’s also. Unfortunately I never got chance to learn swimming but now I have one so I have decided to utilize it. I have made a promise to myself that I will learn to swim at any cost.

I am going to develop a new skill in these coming months. Today was my first day of learning. I was very excited but some my friends were not as they have phobia of water. After getting in Sun and Sand hotel, I got into the locker room and wore my swimwear. I jumped into the water with great enthusiasm. Today we did bubbles (going underground and doing air bubbles) and some flaps (taping feet with floating holding the tile. I got tired and my legs were paining as I am not comfortable with water and swimming.

16 August 2013 - 1 hour

Today we did the same what we did in last class but this time I didn’t had pain in my legs. I felt more comfortable in water. The most important thing in swimming is never panic and don’t fear water. As you get comfortable with water, swimming gets easy. Practice makes you prefect and my coach believes in that so made us do practice whole time.

23 August 2013 - 1 hour

As we are learning freestyle, hand action is very crucial as it helps to push your body forward. It should be done with perfectly as hands should be slightly tilted as it helps in speed. As it was first time for me I am tired and I am having body pain. I believe in words like hardwork and punctuality so I will never give up in this activity. I want to show perseverance and commitment towards with this activity.

30 August 2013 - 1 hour

Today we did practice and I think I am doing better but not good enough. I am just able to swim for some meters but not even half lap. I will try and try hard to do much better than this. In swimming stamina is very important so increase that I have started doing things like morning and evening walk. I am trying to do my best but I know it is not enough. Today I practiced a lot, there was some problem with my hand action so my coach helped me with that. My body pains a lot, swimming is very difficult sport.

6 September 2013 - 1 hour

Today I felt more comfortable with the practice. I am very happy that today was able to swim near one lap. I think it is continuous practice which has made me do better. I did more exercise and practice today. I thought practice will get easy but it has gone tougher, I think because I am now doing it correctly. I am now using my whole body and my hand action is better now.

13 September 2013 - 1 hour

Today I practiced with full strength. Power and technic is a crucial thing in swimming I have kept working on this. I have also observed that my stamina has also increased after this activity. I use to get ill many times but after I started this activity my health as also improved. There are also other styles in swimming like butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke. Today our coach taught us back stroke, It is was different than freestyle as it is done backward. It was difficult as its hand action is backward and feet flaps are also upside. I kept on trying and it got better. As I am comfortable with freestyle it wasn’t very difficult for me to do back stroke though I took some time. I will practice more and then get good in this too.

20 September 2013 - 1 hour

Today I was very excited and felt very energetic as I was hoping to do my backstroke practice but my coach told me to do few laps with freestyle then go for backstroke. I think he wants me to continue to practice of freestyle with backstroke. Today I also had a leg cramp after a lap of backstroke but my coach helped me. I did some stretching then I was fine. I realized as backstroke is new for me I might have done something wrong in feet flaps. I continued my practice and did a couple more laps. I expect to do better.

27 September 2013 - 1 hour

Today half of the time was given for practice and stretching then we had a race. I didn’t practiced with full power as I wanted to save my energy for the race. After the practice I started motivating myself about the race with positive thoughts. The race was very competitive everybody performed well. I won! It was a great experience as I always did my best in practice and I think its outcome was seen in the race. Today I really understand the meaning of “Practice makes a man perfect”. By this activity I increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth. With developing a new skill I have also learned things like hard work, commitment and sportsman spirit in this activity.