Let's make a decorative candle stained with yellow wild lichen.

 In medieval Europe, it's said they stained yellow candles used for festivals with the wild yellow lichen. Its scientific name is Candelaria concolor and it is known by various names such as lemon lichen, concolor lemon lichen, candleflame lichen etc.

I learned about this after reading the handbook on lichens.  So, I decided to try making a decorative candle by myself.

At first, I found this yellow lichen growing on thick branches of an old persimmon tree in my fields, but it was difficult to scrape off from the bark. Therefore, I looked for another place.

Then I found this yellow lichen growing on a large stone outside the house where my parents lived in the past.  So, I scraped off a few lichens with a utility knife.

Here's a close-up photo.  Each small grain is called soredia in technical term. It is an entangled tissue consisting of the hyphae of a fungus and the cells of an alga, both of them are in a symbiotic relationship each other. They are powdery and are blown away by wind to grow at a new place. 

I took a small amount of the lichen and brought it back home.

I bought these daily necessities at a "100-yen shops" for staining a candle. These stores sell all food and daily goods for 100 yen (before tax price, about 0.7 U.S. Dollar) and are widely known in Japan as "100-yen shops".

From left to right: a small glass container (originally a powder sifter bottle), a sieve (originally a cake sifter), and small colorless candles that we usually light when visiting graves.

Break a colorless candle into pieces and put them in an empty can. Then, melt the pieces in a pot of hot water.

The candles have melted.

Now, add the lichen pieces shown before. Immediately the melted candles turn faint yellow like an olive oil. The more lichens are added, the darker in color the candle will be, but this time, I used a small quantity of lichens.

The melted candles (ingredient; paraffin) will quickly become yellow stained with the yellow dye extracted from the lichens. Then pour melted candles into a small glass bottle, through a sieve to remove any lichen fragments.

Stand the candlewick that I had set aside and hold it in place with such as chopsticks until it hardens.

It has hardened. It looks like this: I should have used a more stylish bottle for my Christmas decorations.

I can light it properly.