I bet you didn't know how beeswax is made and then refined to be used in candles! I also bet you that you did not know it takes anywhere from 6 to 8 pound of honey to make 1 pound of beeswax.
Beeswax is made by bees. Precisely the female worker bees. The female worker bees convert the honey nectar into beeswax. They do this by taking the nectar brought in by forager bees and passing it between each other until the water content is reduced. The female worker bees raise the hive temperature to 33 degrees Celsius by huddling together. Wax glands on the bees abdomen convert the sugars in the honey to beeswax. The beeswax is expelled through small pores in the abdomen and form scales. Worker bees then chew on the scales to make them the right consistency to build the honeycomb. The scales are about 3mm across and 0.1mm in thickness. It is estimated that 1100 scales of wax are needed to make 1 gram of beeswax.
Bees have found that maintaining an ambient temperature ensures that the beeswax can be worked into shape. What shape you may ask? Hexagonal! Bees have found that hexagons are structurally sound, are strong, and efficient at storing honey, pollen, and are the perfect shape to raise their brood. The color of the beeswax greatly depends on the color of honey as it is initially clear in color. It gets darker and more of a yellow color as it ages.
Rendering the beeswax to use for candle making is simple if you know the proper steps to take.
Once the honeycomb is harvested from the hive, you need to render it down to remove all the dirt and bee bits from the beeswax. First take small amounts of the honeycomb and wrap it in cheesecloth, tying off the ends. Place the bundle of honeycomb in cheesecloth in a pot of simmering water. Melt the honeycomb until all the beeswax is melted completely. Remove the bundle from the water and add another to melt until all the honeycomb is melted. Allow the beeswax to separate and cool completely before removing the wax disk from the top of the water.
Place the beeswax in a double boiler and melt it again completely. You will see some bits in the beeswax. Next you will want to strain the melted beeswax through a fine metal strainer that is lined with cheesecloth right into the molds of your choice. Allow the refined beeswax to cool completely in the mold. Once the beeswax is completely cooled in the mold you can remove it to use in candles, lip balm, or whatever else you think to make with it!
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