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Hive Products - Candles

There are a couple of ways to make candles, here I explain how I have made my candles. The size of the candle dictates how long the candle will burn. Each candle contains a wick, it is important to match the wick size to the candle size, otherwise the candle may not completely burn down. Using a wick size smaller than normal with the larger candles allows a rim to remain, holding in the molten wax. The wick is the key part of the candle, although it looks like a thick piece of normal cotton thread, it is actually a carefully shaped (normally square), and woven thread. the weaving of the various strands enable the wick to burn efficiently. If you were to use a normal thread of cotton, although it would burn the candle, it wouldn't produce a good clean bright flame.

Rolled Candles

My first candles were made by simply rolling up a sheet of beeswax from one side including a wick at the beginning. As its just rolling up a sheet of wax, these were quick and easy to make, and are typically made by all the family at county shows and other events. the candles are the cheapest but still burn nicely and produce a good burn time. The wax sheet comes in a variety of colours, these are produced by dying the molten natural beeswax, (I have used natural, dark red and Christmas green). Below are some examples of the Rolled Candles that I have made. coloured sheets of wax

       red&green rolled candles     tall rolled candle     set of rolled candles     set of red green & natural rolled candles     stubby rolled candle


Cast or Solid Candles.
These candles are made by melting beeswax and then pouring into moulds that hold a candle wick. The wick is held while the beeswax cools. On reaching room temperature the candle is carefully removed from the mould. The mould can be made of a variety of materials such as plastic, silicone and metal. For me, I have found that the silicone moulds are the best although expensive, the candles can be removed easier as the mould is flexible and can be deformed. candle moulds
  
set of solid candles set of cast candles The pictures to the left shows my solid candles. The melting and casting of the candles makes a better candle than hand rolling. The casting allows complex moulds to be used and in reality if you have a mould any reasonable shape is possible.

If you are interested in buying any of the candles seen here, then details on size/burn time etc. and how to buy the candles are provided on this page. Further photos are located here.