Anyone make beeswax candles/tealights?

[Jennifer]

Hi all, I'm new here! I was wondering if anyone makes beeswax candles. I just started experimenting with beeswax and it's a little tricky. I made some candles in tins the other day, and when I burned them over the weekend they tunnelled--bad! I got the suggested wick size from Candle Science, but half of the wax didn't get used! I also made some tea candles with the suggested wick size. At first, the candle burned great, but then it went out when about 1/4 of the wax was still left. I was sort of puzzled at first, but then noticed that the wick had burned down to the little metal thing that's attached to the wick so obviously there wasn't anything else left to burn. If anyone has advice on avoiding tunneling on beeswax candles and how to better wick tealights I'd appreciate it! I'm also looking for some books or resources on how to make beeswax candles and I'm having no luck finding much of anything!

 

[karenbeth]

I've made a few candles as I'm a beekeeper so I have access to free wax. The main thing is to make sure your wax is not too hot. It really expands a lot. So try having small pieces or grated wax so you don't have to heat so much to melt the wax. I think you can get wick assemblies you make yourself that are better. For big candles you need to make a hole in the bottom and top it up. To get good detail on fancy candles the wax needs to be pretty hot. You tube has lots of beeswax candle making tutorials, so maybe check them out.

 

[squeakycleanuk]

Hi, i make beeswax tealights and from my experience with it I would just suggest trying different sized wicks. I too did my first candles using the wicks suggested by the company I bought from but they were way off (not sure why) and I think I ended up using about 2 sizes bigger than they recommended. it sounds like both your containers failed to reach a full melt pool, so wick up a size (or 2) and see how you get on

 

[Jennifer]

Thanks for the suggestions!