Saturday 14 December 2013

Pass the honey, Honey. Pass the sugar, Sugar. Pass the tea, Bag?

"We're putting it on Wax,(it's the new style)"

Yep, that is a quote.

Well we decided to try something new, we like honey, we use a lot of honey, and it smells awesome. So what have we got planned? Bees wax candles, Why? Cause we need to make a mess somehow. but at least it is a mess that smells good.

raw, pre-cut, dirty, smells awesome

I purchased some raw bees wax from a local apiary, where I go to get the liquid gold. On this trip I asked if I could purchase 5lbs of wax also; show up and there it is, chipped off the old block with a chisel and marteau. Fill up a few jars of honey and we're off. So then after about a day of the block sitting on the computer desk and smelling terrific, I decide to start chipping it into smaller pieces to ease the melting process. This is a little bit of a task, so I make up a double boiler with an old mason jar, old pot, and a coiled up piece of copper wire. Filled the mason jar with water and placed my chisel and putty knife into the mason jar to heat up. I then push the chisel and putty knife into the wax till it starts breaking apart and repeat this process till I am left with pieces in the 2"-3" with a ton of little chips and flakes everywhere. They look like good sizes for quicker melting, so I start melting them down in the double boiler system.  While that is happening I start creating a makeshift filtering system, now that's the secret part can't let that one out. Filter is made, wax still melting. after about 30mins wax has fully melted. Pour wax through filtering media, onto baking pan... old baking pan, lined with parchment paper.
All chopped up.

She's always there happy to help, dangerous or safe
Getting wax off stuff is a pain in the ass,and anything used quickly becomes something old and something you don't care about. Kind of like how North Americans treat our elderly in old age homes.... ouch that's a sore spot. So was that wax that just dripped on my hand. Use caution and PPE.

All the crud left in the filter media
found this little fella, in the filter too. 
After filtering the wax and letting it harden it takes on a lighter colour since dirt and debris have been removed. Yes, if it is previously unfiltered it is going to have dirt, propolis, pollen, bees and bee parts, and who knows what else.

The whole process makes your house smell nice and sweet like honey.