For homeschool, we learned all about bees. Have you ever learned about bees?? Holy smokes, those things are AMAZING. In a future post, I’ll share with you some of my favorite products for teaching kids about bees. But in the meantime, I wanted to share this project with you, making beeswax candles.
After we wrapped up our section, we decided to make something super cool with beeswax. I bought stuff to make both lip balm and candles. We haven’t made the lip balm yet (very soon!), but we had a blast making the candles together.
These candles make perfect Christmas neighbor gifts, home decor for your own house, and emergency lighting. If you want to give them to neighbors, like we are, I made some gift tags for you!
CLICK HERE TO PRINT CHRISTMAS CANDLE GIFT TAG
So I need you to just go with me on this… I researched the poop out of beeswax candle making and I’m pretty sure I ended up with a fantastic recipe (from the super-helpful DIY Natural) that really makes the most out of the beeswax and candle functionality.
This is what you need to make beeswax candles:
Beeswax (about 12 oz.)
Palm Oil (about 12 oz.)
Square braided wick (supposed to be the best for burning beeswax)
Mason jars (I used the 4 oz. size for the cuteness factor, but 1/2 pint would be great too. I filled about nine 4 oz. jars with this recipe.)
Medium saucepan
Newspaper, wax paper, or something to keep countertops clean
Tip: Use as many disposable items as possible for stirring and wipe glass measuring cup clean with paper towel as soon as possible, before washing. The wax is tricky to clean off!
Directions for making beeswax candles:
1. Pour a few inches of hot water in a medium size saucepan and turn on stove to medium heat. Add 12 oz. beeswax to glass measuring cup and set in the water. The beeswax will SLOWLY start to melt…and, I mean slowly. Don’t be tempted to crank the heat to high, just be patient. 🙂
2. While you’re waiting, cut your wicks the same height as your jars, plus a couple inches. Once the beeswax is half-way melted, you can dip your wicks in the melted wax, then lay them on wax paper to dry… stretch them so they’re straight. It’s okay if the tip isn’t dipped, where your fingers were holding it.
3. Once the beeswax is melted, add the palm oil and continue to heat and stir until melted.
4. Pour about an inch of the melted wax into each jar, then immediately hold a wick in the middle of the wax in the jar, until the wax slightly cools/hardens and the wick stands on it’s own. Unless you have several hands helping to hold the wax, you may want to just pour a few jars at a time.
5. Using a wooden skewer, roll the top part of the wick down and around it until the skewer is resting on the jar mouth and holding the wick upright.
6. After the skewers are set, pour the remaining oil into the jars, leaving a little room at the top.
7. After the oil has mostly cooled and hardened, go ahead and snip off the wick, leaving about 1/2″ poking out for lighting. Let the candles continue to harden. Clean the jars of any wax drippings. Put the mason jar lids on and you’ve got a great gift, home decoration, and memory with the kids!
