Sophie Wainwright
Why Beeswax Candles Are Worth the Effort
If you keep bees in Cumbria, you'll know the peculiar pleasure of opening a hive in late summer and finding frames heavy with wax. Alongside the honey, there's often a modest harvest of cappings, brace comb, and odd bits of burr comb that can be cleaned and set aside. Most beekeepers melt this down into blocks and leave it at that, but turning it into candles is one of the most satisfying ways to use a genuinely sustainable resource.
Beeswax candles burn slowly and cleanly, give off a faint honeyed scent, and don't release the petrochemical soot you get from paraffin. They also make excellent gifts — a jar of honey and a pair of hand-poured candles says far more than anything bought in a shop. And for smallholders looking to make a little extra from their land, they're a practical, low-cost product that uses up something you'd otherwise be storing in the shed.
Cleaning and Preparing Your Wax
Candle wax needs to be cleaner than wax destined for cosmetics or furniture polish. Any residual honey, propolis, or dead bee parts will cause sputtering, smoking, and an uneven burn. Start by sorting your wax: light-coloured cappings give the best candles, while darker brood comb wax will produce a stronger-smelling, slightly darker candle that's still perfectly usable.
The safest method for a smallholder is a double boiler. Never melt wax directly over a flame — beeswax has a flash point around 200°C and can ignite if overheated. Set a heatproof bowl or a clean tin over a pan of simmering water, add your wax, and let it melt gently. Keep the water at a gentle simmer rather than a rolling boil.
Once melted, strain the wax through a fine sieve lined with muslin or an old cotton pillowcase into a second container. For stubborn impurities, strain twice. If you want really clear wax, you can add a little water to the melted wax, let it cool, and lift the solid cake off the top — the grime settles in the water below. Repeat until the wax smells sweet and looks clean.
Weigh your cleaned wax once it's solid again so you know how many candles you can make. A rough guide: 1kg of beeswax will fill roughly ten to twelve 100ml moulds, depending on how much you lose to shrinkage.
Choosing Wicks and Moulds
Wick size matters more than most beginners expect. Too thin, and the flame will drown in a pool of wax; too thick, and it will smoke and tunnel. For beeswax, which is denser than paraffin, choose a wick one size larger than you would for the same diameter in soy or paraffin wax.
- Small tealights (up to 5cm diameter): a fine cotton wick, lightly waxed
- Pillar candles (5–8cm): a medium cotton wick, primed with wax
- Large pillars or container candles: a braided or square-braided wick, sized up accordingly
Cotton wicks are traditional and work well; avoid anything with a metal core unless you know it's zinc-free. You can buy pre-waxed wicks or prime your own by dipping them in melted wax and letting them harden — this makes them easier to position and helps them light first time.
For moulds, silicone is the easiest material for beginners because candles pop out cleanly without releasing agents. Vintage metal moulds, jelly moulds, and even clean yoghurt pots work well too. If you're using a rigid mould, a light wipe of cooking oil inside will help. For pillars, you'll need to pierce a hole in the base for the wick to pass through and seal it with a little softened wax or putty.
Melting, Pouring, and Setting
Set your mould upright on a level surface, ideally on a sheet of greaseproof paper to catch drips. Thread your wick through the mould and tie it to a skewer or pencil laid across the top, keeping it taut and centred. A dab of wax at the base will hold the bottom of the wick in place.
Melt your cleaned wax again in the double boiler. The ideal pouring temperature is around 70–75°C. Too hot, and the candle will shrink away from the mould and crack; too cool, and it will set before filling the mould properly. Pour slowly in a steady stream, leaving a small gap at the top for shrinkage.
Beeswax shrinks as it cools, so you'll often get a dip in the centre. After about twenty minutes, when the surface has skinned over but the candle is still soft, top up the mould with a little more wax. This "top-up" step is what separates a professional-looking candle from a hollow one.
Leave the candles to set somewhere cool and draught-free for at least twelve hours, ideally overnight. Don't be tempted to speed things up in the fridge — rapid cooling causes cracks and a dull finish.
Finishing, Trimming, and Gifting
Once fully set, untie the wick and ease the candle out of the mould. Trim the wick to about 1cm above the wax surface. For pillars, you can smooth the base by rubbing it gently on a warm plate or a sheet of fine sandpaper.
A few finishing touches turn a homemade candle into something worth giving:
- Wrap pairs in brown paper tied with garden twine
- Add a handwritten label noting the wax source and burn time
- Bundle with a small jar of your own honey for a proper Cumbrian gift
- Store in a cool, dark cupboard — beeswax candles keep for years
A Note on Safety and Small-Scale Selling
Never leave a melting pan unattended, and keep a lid or damp cloth nearby in case of flare-ups. Work in a ventilated room, as melted wax gives off fumes that can irritate the throat. If you're selling candles at a market or village hall, check current labelling requirements for candles, and keep a note of your wax source and any fragrance or colour added.
For most Cumbrian smallholders, though, this is a kitchen-table craft rather than a factory operation. It fits neatly into the quiet weeks of winter, uses up a by-product you'd otherwise be storing, and gives you something genuinely useful to hand out at Christmas. Light one on a dark February evening and you'll wonder why you didn't start years ago.
