Here goes my contribution to the many beeswax candle tutorials floating around the web. I figured I have a couple things to contribute that I had to search high and low to find out, so here goes.
First off, your supplies. You'll need beeswax obviously. It can be got online, but I got mine from my wonderful local honey makers, Tongue River Honey. There is something to be said for going to the honey house and having the owners walk you through the process and wring their hands in worry when a bee lands on your lip (he told me he gets stung every single day, and no he does not get used to it, it hurts like hell every single time). Maybe this whole bee business still seems romantic since I've managed to maintain my never-been-stung status. Anyway, they have piles of wonderful wax piled there in the back of the room there, can you see it? I gathered up my couple gallons of honey and asked about the wax. Unfiltered they said, and $3.50/lb. I bought 10lbs. I used probably just shy of 5 lbs of wax for this batch - not all of it consumed, but you need a lot to get the proper depth. I should get lots and lots more candles out of that 5lbs.
The wax had tidbits of dirt and bee still in it, so I went through the whole process of cleaning it, but looking back I'm not sure if this was necessary - another tutorial I saw along the way said that all the impurities will sink to the bottom so that you can either keep them out of your candle or cut them off when all is said and done.
Tongue River Honey's Honey House - It smells AMAZING
Get some wick. I read a ton of online posts and got really no clarity on what kind, what size, etc. Many of them used the hemp string that you can get at any old craft store, usually in the beading section. I went to Walmart to get some and was stumped about what size. Looked for help online, and found none. Just one warning that if I used the wrong size, my candles wouldn't burn right. Sigh. In the and I bought the medium thickness string at Walmart, and also stumbled on some 4-ply cotton wick at the Salvation Army which I tested out as well. I won't make you wait - they both work great! For tapers - I haven't tried a jar candle yet.
As for the melting process, again there are many ways to accomplish the melting of beeswax. Some folks used crock pots. I think that would work fine, but I wanted my candles longer than any crockpot I could find that I could afford. Others used the big, big canned food cans, submerged in a pot of water - these big cans still weren't tall enough for me. In the end, I spotted a nice, thick, TALL glass vase at Salvation Army and claimed it. Whatever you use, you will then need a pot to put your water in. It should just be an appropriate size for your melting container. Also buy yourself a pack of wooden skewers for wax stirring and wick manipulating. Have a dowel or thick wooden stick, a piece of wax paper, and a stack of newspaper on hand as well.
The Short List:
Beeswax
Wick Material
Melting Container
Large Pot For Boiling Water
Newspaper To Protect Your Workspace
Dowel or Thick Stick
Skewers
Piece of Wax Paper (for rolling your candles straight)
Now you just dive in. To be honest this whole process was much easier than I expected, yet much more time consuming than I expected - though I had been warned.
1. Fill your container with wax. I kept my 5lb hunk of beeswax in the freezer overnight, took it out in the morning, wrapped it in a couple of layers of plastic bags and had a nice little purge of aggression by wacking it repeatedly with a hammer. This broke it down into nice, manageable pieces for filling my vase. I put the vase into my big ol' stock pot, and filled the stock pot until the water was 3/4 or so of the way up the vase.
Getting ready to make my candles (that's my farmer's cheese set up in the background there - maybe another post)
2. Now turn on the heat and wait....kind of a long time. Don't leave the wax unattended for too long. I don't think there's much of a risk with it in the water, but I keep reading things about wax lighting on fire and you know, safety first. Taking your wooden skewer and stirring once the majority of the wax is melted helps make it go faster. Probably not, but at least it feels like you're doing something. In the end you have your pot of hot water, turned down to I don't know, a low simmer? And a melting container full of melted wax.
3. Cut yourself some wick. Double the height of your melting container and add five or six inches for you to hold and for hanging. (I cut mine too long). Spread out the newspaper on the floor between the stove and your hanging spot, which is your dowel/stick laying across the back of two chairs, or whatever hanging set up you are going with. You got this.
4. Now here is a tip I found buried in a long line of tutorials. SOAK YOUR WICK. I'm pretty sure that most of the folks whose candles didn't work skipped this step or didn't know about it at all. But one tutorial emphasized its importance and it makes sense that this would slow down the burn, so I did it. I just stuck the wick into the wax and let it sink, hooking it around my skewer which was leaning against the side of the melting container and let it soak for a few minutes.
Wick after being soaked in beeswax (Hemp on left, Cotton on right)
5. Pull out your wick (or wicks) and let it cool. Straighten it out by rolling it on your wax paper, or just manipulating it into a straightish line. Let it cool.
Candle babies - this is after their first post-soak dip. And it was also a Bountiful Baskets pick-up day, look at all that veggie color!
6. Now you are ready to roll. Be prepared to spend the next few hours in beeswax heaven. I only did four sets of tapers, as I was more or less just testing to see if these wicks were going to work. Next time I will plan an entire day and do tons. This isn't really something you can do a little bit every now and then. Take your wicks and dip them slowly and smoothly into the wax, pull them out slowly and smoothly (you can do one side at a time or both at a time - just don't let them get stuck together when dipping or hanging), and hang them on your dowel. Move on to the next. Lather, rinse, repeat. Every once in a while I rolled my candle straight, or bent it this way or that. When the level of beeswax started to drop I would just toss another hunk in the bottom to bring it back up. I think in the end, I probably dipped each candle around 30 times, measuring them every once in a while against a candle holder to get the appropriate diameter.
7. When your candles are your desired diameter, set the whole shebang aside to cure overnight.
Curing candles - mine spent the night here in my cluttered shipping area for the shop, where even children fear (sometimes) to tread.
8. And voila! next morning, stick them in your holder and light 'em up. Ours both burned beautifully. I really can't say I prefer one type of wick over the other, so maybe base it on which look you like best. The hemp wick is definitely more rustic and primitive looking (on the right in the picture below). The cotton is daintier and a tad more traditional (on the left in the picture below).
Me and my boys enjoyed poached eggs on toast with grated cheese by candlelight this morning.
Best of luck with your beeswax taper adventures! As one who was reluctant to go to all the trouble and mess and time of it, I have to say I am totally in love with these beauties and look forward to a bright and heavenly scented future of beeswax candle making!
