Beeswax Candles

Making tall, tapered, beeswax candles is easy once you have the necessary supplies, and ahhh.. the sweet, delicious, smell wafting throughout the house while you're making them is truly one of the benefits.  I've been wanting to use the wax and supplies that I've had on hand for a long time, and finally my daughter came over this week and we had fun making candles for Christmas gifts.  

I bought wax several years ago from some friends who keep bees in Eastern WA, they sell it by the pound.  When I got home, it was put away in a box, and you know, out of sight, out of mind.  Later I bought a tall metal wax melting pot and wicking from a local beekeeping supply company called Beez Neez.  I buy my beekeeping supplies through them also.  Jim sells wax, honey, pollen, and everything you need to keep bees along with plenty of good advice to keep them healthy in the Pacific Northwest.

The wax is broken up and placed in the large pot set in a water bath. I place my on our wood stove.  The water bath is so the wax doesn't scorch.  Once the wax is totally melted,  you're ready to start dipping. 

For the wicks I measured about 3 ft and tied a bolt at the bottom to keep the wick straight.  I only left the bolts on for 4 or 5 dips then I cut them off at the bottom.  The process of dipping is simple, you dip the wick to the bottom till you feel the bolt touch, pull out, I dip twice, then hang to dry, and on to the next one down the line and then redip repeatedly until you have them the thickness you like.  One note, you will want to have wax melting in another pan/water bath that is smaller, to melt wax for refilling the wax pot to keep it topped off, so the candles maintain their size correctly.  A couple more notes, the bottom's you'll see as you're nearing your last few dips, you want to square them off before you dip the last few times.  Also if they're looking a little crooked, you can roll them on a clean, flat surface to make nice and straight.