Making Early American Style Hand Dipped Beeswax Tapers - Part 1
This is our Beeswax Hand Dipped Tapers Image Gallery showing how we make them. It will show every step in our candle making process of making these Colonial Style Beeswax Candles.
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At Honeyflow Farm the Beeswax Candles Shop is the focal point of the whole site. This tutorial will show how we make our Hand Dipped Beeswax Taper Candles.
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Making Beeswax Candles
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Most of our beeswax candlemaking is done with our candle tank. We had to replace it a few years ago so we have a picture of it before we installed it.
It is really 4 separate stainless steel tanks that are put in a barrel that is filled with water and kept at 180 degrees. (thermostatically controlled) Raw beeswax is shown in next slide added to one of the compartments. The tank is also insulated to help keep the temperature even.
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New Beeswax Tank...
The four compartments hold different grades of beeswax.
The back two compartments are partially filled with water. Wax is melted in these, floats to the top and contaminants will settle to the bottom and into the water. Then the wax is strained through a very fine mesh .5 to 1 micron filter into the front compartments.
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Grades of wax..
The candledipping starts with a wooden frame that holds 6 pairs of beeswax candles.
There are 3 pairs on each side - later on in the process the bottom of the candles will be cut and the two top frames will be separated.
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Grades of wax..
The first dip is held in the wax for about 10 seconds or more to allow the wick to completely soak up the wax and all the bubbles to be released.
You must be careful not to dip too deep or you will get wax on the frame and the candle will look too messy.
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Dipping...
You can see the wax getting thicker on the wicks.
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Getting thicker...
The complete beeswax candle takes about 30 dips into the wax and about 3 hours from start to finish for a 30 pair cycle.
It is dipped with a smooth motion to make a smooth surface on the candle. They are hung on a circular rack that holds 5-7 frames.
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Hung on rack...
Each dip into the tank increases the diameter of the candle.
By the time we get back to the first dipped candle it is usually cool enough to start the cycle again.
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Getting thicker...
Each dip into the tank increases the diameter of the candle.
By the time we get back to the first dipped candle it is usually cool enough to start the cycle again.
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More dipping..
It takes a lot of practice to develop a very smooth motion as you dip the candle into the wax and then pull it out. If you shake it or jerk it you may develop bumps on the candle.
As you see, all of our candles are hand crafted and not made by machines. We guarantee each one of them to be unique.
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Smooth motion
It takes a lot of practice to develop a very smooth motion as you dip the candle into the wax and then pull it out. If you shake it or jerk it you may develop bumps on the candle.
As you see, all of our candles are hand crafted and not made by machines. We guarantee each one of them to be unique.
Click her to view and purchase Beeswax Candles...
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Smooth motion
Our Beeswax Candle Dipping Rack can hold from 30 - 40 pairs of candles at a time
As you see, all of our candles are hand crafted and not made by machines. We guarantee each one of them to be unique.
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Hanging Beeswax Tapers on dipping rack
Here you can see the diameter increasing on the pairs of candles.
All of our candles are hand crafted and not made by machines. We guarantee each one of them to be unique. They cannot be purchased in big box stores.
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Size increasing
The diameter of the candles is increasing rapidly at this point.
As you see, all of our candles are hand crafted and not made by machines. We guarantee each one of them to be unique.
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Hanging Beeswax Tapers on dipping rack
The diameter of the candles is increasing rapidly at this point.
As you see, all of our candles are hand crafted and not made by machines. We guarantee each one of them to be unique.
Click her to view and purchase Beeswax Candles...
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Hanging Beeswax Tapers on dipping rack
About half way through the process the frame must be split in half - now each frame will hold 3 pairs and a full cycle around our cooling rack is now 10 frames.
If we did not cut the candles free at this point they would get too large and start to touch the sides of the wooden frame. They also start to get quite heavy and hard to hold up.
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The frame must be split now
About half way through the process the frame must be split in half - now each frame will hold 3 pairs and a full cycle around our cooling rack is now 10 frames.
If we did not cut the candles free at this point they would get too large and start to touch the sides of the wooden frame. They also start to get quite heavy and hard to hold up.
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Cutting the bottoms of the tapers
A sharp knife is used to cut the bottoms free and the two halfs of the wooden frames that are held together with rubber bands are now cut. The sides and bottom of the frames are removed.
At this point these frame parts are completey covered with wax and must be cleaned so that we can re-use them.
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Cutting the bottoms of the tapers
The sides of the frames will be removed and the wax re-cycled
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The sides of the frames are now completely free.
Since we are also grapegrowers and winemakers, this half way point is always a good time for a quick break to replenish our candlemaking energies.
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When you are refreshed please click here to view Part 2 of this Candle Dipping Series. We will melt these frames and finish dipping the tapers.
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Break time
