How to Make Beeswax Candles

There's just nothing quite like the cozy warm glow of a homemade beeswax candle.

Not only do they have a long burn time, they burn clean and bright while releasing a faint honey scent.

When beeswax candles burn, they clean the air like a great, natural, air purifier. Just like lightening, beeswax produces negative ions when burned. These negative ions attach to positive ions (like dust, pollen, mould, odor, toxins) floating in the air and in this process cleans the air. The ions in the air can affect our mood, energy and health. Beeswax candle fuel is the only fuel that actually produces negative ions, which not only helps remove pollution from the air but increases the ratio of negative ions to positive ions, the ideal and necessary criteria for clean air. (Source)

I will be adding homemade beeswax candles to my store in the near future but until then, for those who want to give it a try on your own, I decided to make a simple tutorial to show you just how easy it is!

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First of all, anything you decide to use with beeswax, will now be dedicated to only beeswax. It is near impossible to fully clean out of containers so its best to protect all your surfaces you do not want to be scraping and scrubbing later on! I decided to reuse one of my old seed catalogs!

First set out your containers or jars you want to use, I either use recycled candle jars or jelly size mason jars.

Next you want to prepare your wicks. For these candles i used 3/4" tabs and 15mm tabs along with wick #2 for the votive jars and #5 for the larger candle jars. If your candle burns too quickly, you need a thinner wick (smaller number). However, if your candle tunnels and won’t stay lit, try using a thicker wick (larger number).

The particular beeswax you’re working with can also affect the way the wick burns, so you may want to experiment to find the wick size that works best for you.

I have found the easiest way to adhere and center your wicks perfectly every time; an unassembled pen! First you thread your wick through your metal tab, then thread the hollow pen on top, add a small dab of hot glue to the bottom of the metal tab and simply use the pen as your guide to center and press down!

The next step is to prepare your beeswax! Now if you have bees, great! I have not ventured into beekeeping.. yet.. so I purchase mine from a local beekeeper! For my own personal use candles, I decide to use some clean and some "dirty" wax because I like the final color result and I think the honey smell is a little stronger this way. I also don't mind if I find a bee wing or piece of honeycomb in my families candle, I think it adds to the charm! "Dirty" wax is just wax that contains an occasional bee, propolis, hive scrapings and is darker in color. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, just not as filtered as the "clean" wax! If you don't have access to a local beekeeper, you can also find beeswax on Amazon HERE.

Now onto the fun part; melting down your wax! Making your own beeswax candles gives you the extra bonus of smelling all that honey scented wax melt down and then again when you burn the candle! My entire house smells so relaxing and clean when I am making these, it is such a peaceful project!

Now I use a metal candle pourer, but you can use any type of bowl or container you don't mind dedicating to only beeswax from here on out. You want to heat up some water in a pot that's slightly larger than your melting container to use as a double boiler.

Place your wax inside the container, and bring the water to a low simmer. Stir occasionally and add pieces of wax as needed.

Once your wax is completely melted and there are no solid pieces anymore, (I'm sorry I forgot to take a photo of the wax completely melted), you are ready to pour your candles!

There are multiple ways to secure your wicks while the wax is cooling, I actually use multiple ways myself. One way is to use a wooden skewer centered and simply wrap the wick around, add a little wax to act as "glue", it will stay in the center and nice and tight until the wax is completely hardened. Another is to use two skewers and weave the wick around both until it is secure, as shown in the photo below i have also used mason jar flower "frogs" to hold them in place also! Just use whatever you have in your house, I have seen people use clothespins, pencils, hair clips, etc!

Also pictured are some wood wicks I was experimenting with on this day.

Wait until your wax is completely cooled and hard, trim your wicks, and thats it! You've now made your own beeswax candles! How awesome to have made not only a beautiful addition to your home (or maybe a gift for someone else), but a natural air purifier that smells amazing!!