Winter Time – time for beeswax candles
With the arrival of winter-time comes the season for making and using beeswax candles.
The continuous cold, wet and windy start to winter here in the south-west of Australia has been the perfect time to bring out all the beeswax. I’ve collected this precious raw material from local beekeepers during the year. The past few weeks have been spent cleaning and filtering off all the residual honey and pollen from the wax blocks. This is the messiest and hardest part.
Crafting the candles brings me the most pleasure apart from burning them. As tempting as it may be, it is always good practice to avoid doing large runs straight away. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. It is best to try out each batch of wax and do a few trials of the various types of candles even if it is time consuming to begin with. Even if a wax block looks nice and clean, any trace of honey or pollen affects the burning quality of a candle. This is most evident with smaller candles like tea-lights which can easily snuff out with the accumulated particles.
Wicks play an important role in the function of a good beeswax candle. I use only 100% unbleached cotton wicks. The diameter of a candle will determine the thickness of the wick to be used. I have several sizes for my candles resulting in candles producing small flames to medium and bigger sized flames.
There are several problems that can arise for pure beeswax candle makers. Aside from the purity of the wax, the ratio of wick width to the diameter of a candle plays a vital role. Too small a wick in relation to the diameter of a candle will result in a “well” with plenty of unburnt wax on the side. You end up with a flame surrounded by a wall of wax which is fine if you like the effect. But that’s not ideal if you’re after a proper candle light. The other issue is the wick ending up drowning in excessive wax.
If the wick is too large with respect to the candle diameter, you end up with a candle that burns away quickly. Again this may not be a major issue for some, but it can certainly be a waste to see a hand-dipped taper candle burning away within an hour or two when it could really be giving you burn time of 5 to 6 hours with the correct wick size.
I’ve been making pure beeswax candles as part of my small business and can attest to the fact that it is not as simple as melting wax and inserting a wick. For those who like to experiment, this approach is probably a good starting point. However, the rest is a nice long learning curve.
May the humble candle bring warmth and light into your home!
