Beeswax for Candle Making

What is Beeswax?

Here comes the oldest wax for candle making. Ancients had only beeswax to use for making candles in old times. This wax, gotten from worker honeybees, is the most natural of all waxes and contains purifying qualities. These wax-making bees collect nectar from various flowers and produce the wax from glands under their abdomens. Getting beeswax is part of the process of obtaining honey from bees. This is why beeswax has the same yellow-brown colour as honey. Apart from the colour, beeswax also has a natural soft fragrance that diffuses in the room as the candle is burned.

Beeswax Melting Point

Beeswax is of two major types based on colour. The yellow beeswax is the purest form of beeswax. All white beeswax is bleached yellow one. The white beeswax is used if one wants to colour the wax differently than the natural yellow. It can be used to make different types of candles and is the only type of wax that can be used to make rolled candles since they most times come in sheets. It has a high melting point: about 145°F.

Benefits of Beeswax Candles

Natural

Beeswax is favoured for the fact that it is natural. This means that it does not pollute the environment in any way like paraffin wax when burned neither does it contain any harmful toxins. So when burning candles made with beeswax, there is no need to worry since there are no potential worries.

Purification

This is an amazing quality peculiar to beeswax. It is not only known to not pollute the air, it also helps to purify the air. Dust and other air pollutants contain positive ions but when a candle made with beeswax is burned, the wax releases negative ions into the air. These negative ions attract the positive ones and all fall to the ground or are attracted to the candle. This process rids the environment air pollutants and makes beeswax a healthy choice especially for people with respiratory problems such as asthma and those with certain allergies.

Natural Colour and Scent

Beeswax has a natural yellow-brown colour and honey-like scent, of course from its association with honey. This means that there is almost no need for additives in making beeswax candles. But even with that, you can still add scent oil to get a different odour. Unless you want that, using beeswax is a good way to save money on candle dyes and scent oils and ease the candle making process.

Burn Quality

You have seen above that beeswax is totally natural. This means that it burns almost completely soot-free. In this regard, it does much better than paraffin wax and vegetable waxes to give a far cleaner burn. Also, beeswax burns the brightest of all waxes. In fact, they make a better light source than the other types of wax. It is sure they must have done so well in illuminating the environment in ancient times when there were no alternative light sources.

Melting Point of Beeswax

Its high melt point of about 145°F is the highest of all waxes. This results in a longer burning time. Beeswax candles generally burn 2 to 5 times higher than other candle waxes. This, in a way, helps justify their high cost. So, apart from the fact that they last longer than other waxes, they also drip far less than others so there is less waste when burning.

Disadvantages of Beeswax

Beeswax has several good qualities for candle burning and for one’s health. But it is not as widely used as other types of candle wax. This means it must have some qualities that deter people from using it too.

Difficult to Obtain

Beeswax takes a lot of stress and resources to be obtained, both on the part of the bees producing them and the humans doing the extraction. For example, it takes several lbs of honey and pollen from millions of flowers to make a single pound of beeswax.

Expensive

Because beeswax takes a lot of resources just for a little amount of wax, there is far less beeswax than is needed. This scarcity has contributed to the high cost of beeswax in the market. In fact, beeswax is the most expensive kind of wax in the market. This is a turn off for most people especially those involved in DIY candle making at home and work on a very little budget. Though it has great qualities, the price is the only thing that sends many people away.

Colouring

The fact that beeswax has a natural yellow colour is a good quality, but it can be negative too. This is because it means that one cannot add colour to beeswax candles as desired. This flexibility is only available with paraffin wax and vegetable waxes with a creamy-white colour. In any case, there are types of beeswax too that are white and can be easily coloured.h

Highly flammable

Beeswax has a very high melting point and so is highly flammable. Except in making rolled candles where no melting of wax is involved, one needs to be extra careful when working with beeswax. Simple safety precautions should be taken such as watching melting wax constantly and keeping flammable materials away from the wax.

Cheating

One needs to be careful when making a beeswax purchase. There are many manufacturers who label their wax ‘beeswax’ but actually mix beeswax with another type of wax, commonly paraffin wax. This they do to save production costs. And since they are not obligated to list the ingredients, many people fall victim and think they are buying authentic wax. The only authentic types of beeswax are those labelled ‘100% Beeswax.

The tendency to ‘bloom’

Also, pure beeswax has the tendency to ‘bloom’. This is the appearance of white coating on the top of the candle and is similar to frosting in soy wax candles. It has no effect on how the candle burns so there is no nothing to worry about. If you are overly concerned anyway, warm the candle with a hair dryer or rub the coating off with a soft cloth.

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