Homemade Beeswax Candles

I love candles.  I enjoy the soft glow and the scent for whatever season we are in.  But once I started doing some research I read about the toxic chemicals that those fragrances and paraben and soy waxes leach into the air that we then breathe in.  Since I try to eliminate and avoid any and all toxins I can, I knew my traditional candle burning had ended.  The alternative? Beeswax!

There are so many benefits of burning beeswax.  It is a natural air purifier, it produces negative ions, that bind to positive ions suspended in the air (bacteria, pollen, dust) and make it heavy so that it falls to ground to be swept or vacuumed.  It is also said that it clears negative energy in the room it is burned in to give a cleaner more positive vibe.  It also burns clean, if you use a natural cotton wick there is no black soot or toxic metals/chemical leached into the air.

I found a bee farm near me, called Goose Rock Farm.  You want natural, filtered (organic if you can find it) beeswax, that should be the color and aroma of honey.  I purchased a pound of beeswax, cotton wicks, a candy thermometer and candle melting pot and used a half cup of organic, unfiltered coconut oil.  Adding the coconut oil will prevent the wax from melting too hot and breaking the glass the candle it is in.

To melt the wax, I boiled shallow water in a pot and placed the metal pot with wax inside.  Once that melted (I honestly didn't use the thermometer) I melted in the coconut oil.  I cut the wick to fit and dipped it into the wax, hung it into the jar and wrapped it around a pen to keep it in place.  Getting the right size wick can be annoying, I used a 6, and should have used bigger for the size (8 oz) jar that I used.  If your wick is too small, there will be tunneling where only the core center will melt and leave the outer wax unmelted.  Pour the wax into the jar, let it cool and it's ready to burn.