Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Dried Flowers and Beeswax Candles

Our mealtime candle is one of the most beloved elements of our daily rhythm...

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*beautiful festivity candle holder from Twig & Toadstool! Love you girls!!!*
We light it every time we sit down for a meal or snack.
While we usually use a snuffer to extinguish the flame, sometimes I like to let Baby W attempt to blow the light out...Oh, he LOVES it. He huffs and puffs...and he doesn't quit until the flame is out! He also enjoys wiggling his fingers in the dancing smoke and proclaiming "All Done!" when he is through.
Since we use a taper candle for every mealtime, we go through a LOT of  beeswax!
In fact, we just finished burning our last candle from Christmas time.
I wanted to create a mealtime candle that reflected the beauty of Springtime...
While on a walk this past weekend, I picked some small purple flowers for W...
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They wilted rather quickly and I placed them on our windowsill wondering what to do with them...
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While I love dipping candles, I have a hard time yielding a large taper by hand. I have come to love rolling tall candles using sheets of beeswax and a cotton wick.
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I firmly pressed the small flowers into the beeswax using my thumbs.
I wanted to coat the flowers in a thin layer of beeswax to affix them nicely to the candle. My melting pot wasn't tall or full enough to do this. I decided to melt the beeswax in my tin can "melting pot" (use any clean tin can and place it in a saucepan with approx. 4 inches of water.)
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Bring to a boil and watch your wax melt!
Once the wax is melted, pour it quickly into a large and shallow vessel.
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Please take heed and select a container that you won't mind using only for candlemaking and wax melting in the future! (I used an old loaf pan.)
Carefully roll your candle in the melted wax one time to obtain a thin and transparent coat.
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Bask in the glow of your springtime candle!
Happy Creating!







12 comments:

  1. beautiful candle, lovely tradition

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  2. Gosh, that first picture made me think of a fairy home. Its very beautiful,and the candle is wonderful!

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  3. oooh, love it! I haven't made rolled candles yet, can't wait to learn.

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  4. So sweet! We are in the middle of making egg candles right now <3
    I have been thinking about you a lot lately and have so much I want to say <3 now I am just hoping for some computer time to e-mail you!!

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  5. Hope you are all feeling better! Love the candles! I might even convince my non-crafty self to try to make some!

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  6. That really looks pretty! I need to get some more beeswax. I have a hard time dipping taper candles too. I usually end up making votives with beeswax.

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  7. Love beeswax! Be sure to stop by my "Happy Birthday Bunny" give-aways each day! You just might win! (and thanks for joining in the fun on Monday!)

    http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/

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  9. What a lovely meal time tradition. I love the flowers you added. I have wanted to try rolling our own bees wax tapers, can you suffest an on-liine sourse for bees wax sheets? Thanks!

    Blessings, Elizabeth

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  10. Wow ! what an interesting blog.Thanks for sharing this information.Your information is really informative for us.
    Nice blog on Sheets of beeswax
    .
    Keep sharing more & more.....

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