16 November 2008

Candlemaking materials-Beeswax

I absolutely love the decadent sweet honey aroma of pure beeswax.The great thing about beeswax is that it's a 100% natural product made by busy little bees, which gives it a fantastic appeal. Beeswax is available in bleached white and shades of golden brown and is quite expensive.

In earlier centuries pure beeswax candles were a luxury only the rich and wealthy could afford, this included the christian churches at that time. Today this statement is still partially true, because Modern church candles only contain 25% beeswax, this is done to make church candles more affordable.

Adding 1% of beeswax to paraffin wax will increase the burning time of a candle, but if you ad more you will need to apply a release agent to the mould that you use. One of my personal favorites is to take beeswax sheets and wrap them around pillar candles, which gives them a fantastic olden day feel especially when lit.

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