First candle of the year!

[Curry]

Yesterday I made my first beeswax candle of the year using my solar wax melter. It only reached 65 degrees, but it was completely sunny so it was hot enough to melt a bunch of burr comb I had been saving.

I don't hear many folks talk about candle making on this site. Does anyone else sell candles or raw beeswax out there?

[dcross]

I have a standing offer of "all the beeswax you can sell for $3.75 a pound." But she's looking for 40+ lbs. and I don't have anywhere near that.

[Axtmann]

I build a silicon mold and make my own wax foundations instead of candles, works great.

[Michael Bush]

I use up all of mine wax dipping PermaComb and making blank stater strips. I hope to get caught up and sell clean wax to people wanting to make chemical free foundation.

[Tia]

I make lip balm and facial cleanser out of mine. I also sell sticks of beeswax at the community market for $1.50 each. Beeswax candles are so great though--burn so much longer than other candles! And smell terrific.

[Kevin123]

How do you go about making starter strips? I have 80 frames from those free hives and I dont really want to go about spending 70 dollers for foundation.

[JohnBeeMan]

Axtmann/MB: How do you build the molds for the foundation/strips?

Candlemakers: Do you use commercial molds or have you got good ideas for us cheapskates?

So far I have just been saving and using in woodworking shop.

[This message has been edited by JohnBeeMan (edited April 07, 2004).]

[Curry]

<Candlemakers: Do you use commercial molds or have you got good ideas for us cheapskates?

I use commercial molds, but the easiest and probably best candle can be made in a hex jar. Mann Lake sells hex jars (like the kind Home Interiors sells their candles in)for like 75 cents each. They're safer than votives, contained in the jar, and burn well that size.

[Michael Bush]

>How do you go about making starter strips? I have 80 frames from those free hives and I dont really want to go about spending 70 dollers for foundation.

I take a 1 x 6 board 16 3/4" long. I soak it in brine, or just soak it in hot water and salt the board some. This is essential as a release agent! I dip that in the wax. If the wax is too hot, I let the board (with the wax) cool and dip it again until the wax is thick enough. I let it cool until it's fairly stiff and cut the edges of the wax off and I have the two long edges for starter strips and I have two sheets that I then cut into strips. I don't WANT embossing on it, myself. I want natural cells so I let the bees BUILD natural cell size.

Obviously if you want to make a lot of them make more boards. Three or four would probably keep you pretty busy.

I buy grooved top frames mostly, but if I get some with a cleat, I just leave it on and put the strip in the groove and wax it in with a wax tube fastener from Walter T. Kelly. If I'm putting them in old frames that already have a cleat I just nail them on like you do with foundation.

[Axtmann]

JohnBeeMan

I made the foundation mold from pure silicon. Some silicon can be painted, that’s the wrong one the wax would stick on it. I try to explain how to build a mold (hard with my second language) but if there is a question please ask.

You need one original wax foundation. Put the foundation on a flat smooth surface (glass or wood) and hold the wax in position with a thin tape all around the wax. Bring a thin coat Vaseline with a toothbrush on the foundation and the tape. Put Vaseline on the tape also otherwise you cant remove the tape when silicon is dry.
Next step bring a frame (wood) round the foundation approx 5mm high ¼ inch. The frame should be at least ¼ inch wide on each side of the wax. Secure the frame to the surface with tape. Everything needs Vaseline except the wood frame, the silicon should glue to the frame.
Next step, fill the inside with silicon and let it dry for a few days, best a week.
Now one side of the mold is made.
Flip the frame with the dry silicon and remove the tape around the wax foundation. Now you can see the wax sitting in silicon with a frame around. Bring a thin coat Vaseline on the wax, the silicon and the frame. Put a second frame on top of the first frame and mount a hinge on the site (small piano hinge). Next step, fill the second frame that is now sitting on top of the first with silicon and let it dry again (a week) and the mold is don.
If you have worked fine with Vaseline the mould comes in two parts and you can remove the wax from the inside. Fill the mold with hot wax and press the top frame down for a few minutes and you will have your first self-made foundation.
After I made my mold I cut two sheet 3mm / 1/8 inch plastic, put a thin coat silicon on it, and attached the sheets on each side from the mold to make the flexible silicon more stable.
Good luck when building your own mold.
http://www.alfranseder.de/

Click on MW Gussform and you can see some pictures of a wax mold.