How we make candles

Once our honey is harvested, attention then turns to using the wax that has accumulated over the beekeeping year.

Most of the wax is derived from the cappings of the honey super frames during harvesting. The cappings are removed using a serrated knife and are collected on a filter with the honey dripping into a collection box.

Other sources of wax are brace or burr comb that we remove from the hive. Brace comb is honey comb built by the bees in places other than the intended place in the frames. We often find this on the top and bottom of frames but also on the inside of the hive roof.

During the year we sometimes replace older frames mainly in the brood box. The frame is disassembled, fitted with new wax foundation, reassembled and then can be reused. The old wax is then added to the candle bounty.

So by mid-september we generally have a big bucket of wax from a variety of sources. At this stage it also contains bits of pollen, dead bees and general grime. The next stage is to melt the wax gently in a bain-marie. Beeswax melts at 64 degrees celsius and is is then strained using a muslin cloth. The strained wax quickly solidifies into a block which is now clean and lovely yellow colour. Inevitably there is still honey which can now be wiped and washed off. This honey cannot be jarred for sale so we add it to a feeder and place it in the roof of the hive for the bees to take down as supplementary food for the forthcoming winter.

Bain-marie

To make candles you need a silicone mould. These can be found online at beekeeping stores or sites like ebay. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes with novelty ones available for Halloween and Christmas. Surprisingly the beekeeping year does not yield a great deal of wax so there are never many candles!

To make the candle, a portion of the clean wax is melted once again in a bain-marie and then poured into the chosen mould complete with wick. After 2 hours the mould can be removed and that's it! Quite a lot of work by the bee-keeper.