Tuesday 24 July 2012

Extraordinary Beeswax Candles Make Everyone Loves

Despite it is seemingly that eco-friendly candles are often more expensive than artificial wax candles, beeswax candles are still popular in certain parts of the world. The natural honey aroma and long lasting features allow beeswax candles truly as superb gifts for you, your beloved family and friends.

Some of the beautiful candles not only boost your great mood but also create becoming ambiance to any interior space that you desire. With so ample choices available nowadays, it's not that tough for every candle lover to find his/her favorites.

By using beeswax, the candle creators can play with it and produce almost any kind of candles within their imagination and creativity. Some of the candles that I found interesting are these beeswax candles made by Big Dipper Wax Works, which just look like star, bird, love...


Beeswax Star Pillar Candles


Beeswax Heart Pillar Candles




Beeswax Song Bird Candles




Beeswax Pumpkin Candles


Beeswax Ornament Candles


 They would really be wonderful decorations at home especially on any celebration!




Monday 16 July 2012

How to Make Some Handy Beeswax Tea Lights?

Beeswax tea light candles are seemly used on most occasions from formal weddings to home parties. They are also perfectly lit to enhance the ambiance in your home especially the dining area and your rooms. In truth, you can buy beeswax tea light candles from the local shops or online stores. Allowing for the ease of making as well as cost saving, some frequent consumers are willing to learn and attempt to make their own ones. Making tea light candles is not only fun but you can also control the quality of the candles by using pure beeswax. The information below is to guide you what to use and follow throughout the process of a successful beeswax tea light candle making.
Tools & supplies:
Pyrex measuring cup, scissors, clothespins, plastic/metal tea light cup, cotton wick and beeswax

I cleaned and reused my aluminum tea light cups


Instructions:
Place the desired amount of beeswax into a Pyrex measuring cup. Put the measuring cup into a pot and then fill the pot with water about halfway full the cup. Now you can start heating the pot on high heat until the water inside the pot boils. Let the beeswax liquefies thoroughly. After shut off the fire source, carefully remove the measuring cup from the pot by using a hot pad or oven mitt as the measuring cup is very hot after heating. Prepare the tea light cups close to each other on a level surface and add an individual cotton wick into them. After that, secure every wick with a clothespin to hold the wick in place. Now, you can pour the melted beeswax into each tea light cup until the edge of the cup is reached without overspill. After filling all the prepared tea light cups, leave them for approximately 1-2 hours or until the beeswax becomes solid. Lastly, take out the clothespins and cut each wick to about 1 cm before use.

Tips & warnings:

-Ensure children are away from your workplace especially while you are handling the hot melted beeswax to avoid any unwanted injury or accident.

-Pouring the melted beeswax into the tea light cups through a funnel provides an easier and cleaner way in this step.

-Place a box lid underneath the tea light cups just in case any overflow accidentally happens while pouring the melted beeswax. This approach can save you from cleaning your workplace later.

-Do not remove the tea light cups from the candles, so that the candles can melt completely when lit.




Tuesday 10 July 2012

Recommended Beeswax Book


Beeswax: Production, Harvesting, Processing and Products
By Roger A. Morse, William L Coggshall, Mary A. Scott and Susan Sarabasha


192 pages in English

This is the book I recommended for reading if you would like to learn deeper about beeswax. As the book title stated, this book was written about the production of beeswax by all honeybees species, the approaches taken by beekeepers to harvest beeswax, the methods used in processing beeswax and also how it is used to make some final products like candles, lotion, polishes...



Wait! Let's see what others reviewed about this book:

Excellent to get you started in Beeswax November 18, 2009
By A. S. Templeton
A really, really good book! Combines comprehensive discussion of the composition and properties of beeswax with practical advice on its refinement and use, especially in the manufacture of candles. If "Beeswax" were updated I imagine it would include the latest on pesticide contamination and modern issues of concern to beekeepers and craftspeople working with beeswax. But while 25 years old it's the best introduction to beeswax I've read, by far preferable to Thomas William Cowan's quaint 1908 book "Wax Craft", a defective reprint edition of which has recently been published.

Beeswax May 16, 2010
By G. Roberts
Beeswax is such a technical product to work with, Beeswax: Production, Harvesting, Processing and Products, is a fantastic guide and reference for anyone wanting to research this raw product and how to use and work with it. Fantastic informative book.

A great overview. June 20, 2012
By Still learning NZ
Well written and researched. If you are interested in this topic then you wont be disappointed with this book. It gives a broad overview with some useful information.





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Tuesday 3 July 2012

More Burning Tips for Beeswax Candles(Taper, Pillar, Votive & Tea Light Candles)


Beeswax Taper Candles
  • Always secure a taper candle in an appropriate taper holder for support while burning. This is crucial as an unfit holder can cause the candle falls down and catch a fire.
  • You can use beeswax fitter strips if your taper candle seems loose in the selected taper holder. If the candle is larger and does not fit in the taper holder, try to keep its bottom in warm water for a while until it starts to soften. Then, try to put it again carefully in the holder.
  • Choose an appropriate tool such as a candle snuffer to extinguish the flame for smokeless effect.

Beeswax Pillar Candles
  • It is recommended to burn a pillar candle on a pillar plate or suitable pillar holder.
  • Use pillar candle in smaller diameter if long burning time is not required. Keep burning a large pillar within short moments will not allow the candle to burn properly to its side and will only shorten its overall burn time.
  • Allow at least an hour of burn time for every inch in diameter of the pillar candle. For instance, a 4 inch pillar should be burned about 4 hours or longer.
  • Hug the burning pillar occasionally if tunneling is not desired. Simply push the edges softly towards the center of the pillar. (Tunneling is a condition when thick walls are left owing to the flame burns down the center of the candle)
  • Always let a pillar initially burns long until the wax melts extending to its full diameter to prevent tunneling, then you may discontinue the burning. It is better to burn a candle intermittently, compared to burning it continuously as it will burn longer in former condition.
  • To extinguish the flame from a pillar candle, best using a wick dipper or suitable metal tool to dip the wick into the melted wax pool before straighten the wick vertically. This approach can eliminate unwanted smoke and wax splattering.
  • It is the best to use a lighter to provide the fire source to the base of the wick if relighting is desired. By this way, the beeswax attached to the wick will melt thoroughly and the candle will burn well again.
  • Only use suitable size and heat resistant votive candle holder to hold a votive candle. The holder should fit for the votive candle without leaving much space in between because the candle will spill out when it burns and fills the holder.
  • Avoid using thick glass holder for your votive candle. This may results an imperfect burn due to the insufficiency of heat from the candle.
  • Before burning, always fill a votive candle holder with a few drops of water first and followed by placing the candle in order to fasten the process of cleaning the remaining beeswax, left by burned out candle in the holder. Meanwhile, this approach can ensure the votive glass holder will not overheating.
  • Never burn a votive candle in the holder that air flow is restricted due to the fact that beeswax candles burns hotter than other candles.
  • Burn a votive candle about an hour or longer each time it is used to ensure the beeswax melts extending to the edge of the holder.
  • Let it burned out by itself when the candle only remains ½ inch height.
  • Same like pillars candles, a votive candle can be extinguished easily by pushing the wick into the melted wax pool before straighten the wick vertically.

Beeswax Tea Light Candles
  • Always burn a tea-light candle with a tea-light cup in a heat resistant holder or surface.
  • Avoid burning the candle in a thick holder. This may cause an imperfect burn owing to the insufficiency of heat from the candle.
  • Never burn it in a holder that air flow is restricted due to the fact that beeswax candles burn hotter than other candles.
  • Burn a tea-light candle in one lighting for its best. It is difficult to relight it after extinguished in the condition that the wax left is not greater than half.
  • Let the candle burned out by itself when it almost comes to the end in order to extend its overall burn period.
  • Gently dip the wick into the wax pool and pull the wick vertically if you want to extinguish the flame.