Beeswax Candles

Once the honey jars are filled, the empty comb frames are returned to the beehive, so they can be reused to store more honey.  The cut off cappings are loaded into a top feeder and placed above the top hive box for the bees to clean off the residual honey.  Then we take the capping wax and refine it for candles.

Prepping the wax for candle making is a lot of work - the wax has to be melted down to separate out any residual larvae 'shells' (the darker protein casings left behind after bees hatch) and other residue. If the residue is left in the wax, the candle wicks get clogged up and don't burn well, as well as the residue giving off an unpleasant odor when burned (think of burnt strands of hair - yuck).  

The historic bee skep candle mold is my favorite. Its more work than the standard votive molds, which cast 8 candles at a time. The skep mold only forms 3, so the whole process takes much longer and takes more patience to thread the wick through and center it during the pouring and cooling process. But its worth it!