Melting and molding beeswax questions...

[BBSweets]

Hmm... I think this would be the right place for these questions...

I found a website the other day that gave some very brief instructions on melting beeswax, adding red coloring and cinnamon oil, and then molding into little hearts using a candy mold.

And that was about the extent of the instructions!! Basically you ended up with a little scented, heart-shaped beeswax item to add to gift baskets and such. I would love to do something like this to add to my Christmas gift baskets this year. But I really don't know what all I'm supposed to do...

Where do you get beeswax? Is there a good online supplier? What would be the best way to melt the wax? Do you have to use a double-boiler? Would another type of wax be easier/work better for this? Beeswax is really a yellow color; is there a wax that would work that is white?

Is there anything I should add to the beeswax to make this work? What type of colorant should I use? Can you use any type of FO with beeswax?

What about molds? Do you have to use a certain type of mold for this sort of thing?

From what I read, these weren't meant to be heated in a tart warmer or anything. You just put them in a sunny window or near a heating vent to give off a little whiff of the scent every now and then.

I don't think I would want mine to be cinnamon scented; I would like a different Christmasy scent. Would other scents be strong enough to cover the beeswax scent?

Eee... I didn't realize I had asked so many questions! I'm so excited about this project; I just got carried away thinking of more questions! LOL

I would like to do a few practice batches before Christmas to make sure I get it right. LOL Okay, I lied. I really just want to make a bunch of them right now because they sound fun!

If anyone can help me, or point me in the direction of some more detailed instructions for something similar, that would be wonderful!

Thanks guys!

[Henryk]

Hi and welcome. I use BW a lot in my candlemaking and I did these last Christmas - I used them for ornaments. Here is the thread: http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35147 but actually, if you run a search on this forum for the word "ornie" you should get more info (ornie is just slang for "ornament").

The are really nice gifts because you can use them for many things (in baskets, as ornaments - trees, windows, on tags/gifts, etc) and don't have to worry about flames!

Beeswax actually comes in a few colors - yellows, olives, tans, (depending upon the flowers used and the "impurities". It also comes in white (bleached) I use BW from candlewic.com. The white is nearly odorless, very white, and comes in pelleted form so its very easy to work with and measure. You can scent it if you want and also color it. BW is pretty opaque so you will need to use more color than paraffin wax or you will get pastel colors.

Silicone or rubber molds work best with BW because BW doesn't shrink much - if at all - and its sticky to work with when setting up and releasing from a mold. Yes, use a double boiler or a "presto pot" or something you can control the temperature of - NOT direct heat (Click on "General Information" on your left - and no, you don't need to put a spicket on it!) You don't want to get BW over 185F as it may discolor and burn. Basically, just pour a bit above the melting temp (melts around 145F to 150F), you don't need to get it any hotter - UNLESS you are adding scent and color - in that case I would bring it up to around 175F and add scent, stir slowly very well - then add liquid color. If using solid color like dye diamonds or flakes I've found bringing it up to 185 really helps dissolving these. As far as FO (fragrance) you must use oil-based fragrance and getting them from a reputable candle making supplier is best IMO. Other than that, you don't need to add anything to BW. Many people just use it without color and FO, but you can add color and FO if you like.

HTH !

[BBSweets]

Oh my goodness! That is very helpful!! Thank you so much!

Your ornies are gorgeous! So glittery and beautiful; I love them!! (LOL I was searching for 'ornaments' - a quick search for 'ornie' brought up twice as many results just now! Thanks for the tip!)

Did you ever figure out a good way to hang yours? I think what you were talking about in your thread were eye pins. I do a lot of jewelry making, and it sounded like you were describing eye pins. I use those a lot. I think that would be a wonderful way to hang the smaller ornies. I don't know if the heavier ones would slide off; do you think they would, or would the beeswax hold on really well? Maybe if you sanded the ends of the eye pins first that would help keep them from going anywhere!

Do I need to use any sort of mold release since the beeswax is sticky? Or will they be okay without it if I use the silicon or rubber molds? I read somewhere that someone had to spray a mold release on their tart molds first.

Did you add your glitter after they were molded and everything? If I sprinkle glitter in the molds first, will that work? I'm guessing that since BW is more opaque, mixing it in will not turn out great results...? I guess I'm just sort of thinking out loud right now. I have a bunch of Art Glitter that I think would be great to add a little pizzazz. I'm going through several different methods of adding the glitter in my head right now, but I'm not sure which would be the best way.

Thanks again so much for your help, Henryk! I'm getting a lot of ideas for little things I could do with these!

I think I'm gonna like these boards!!

[doris]

I've made some BW ornaments, and to hang them up, I just pre-cut decorative cord, folded it so the cut ends were together, dipped the ends in beeswax to join them, and then I poured the ornaments and added the cords as soon as the wax started to set a little bit.

[Henryk]

Thank you! I wanted to do the eye pins (Thanks - now I know what they are called!), but I just ran out of time - and used gold cord. I think the eye pins would work really well as BW is really sticky and my ornaments didn't weigh that much.

I use either the mold release from mann lake - which I think is a silicone spray so its ok because thier molds I believe are a rubber type (they work great btw!). I have heard that you do NOT want to use silicone on silicone molds though - so for everything else I use the mold release from candlewic.com. For most applications I spray the molds every other time - but just a little. You know, for the few times I have used real silicone molds I have not used anything and it was just fine - but I used paraffin. I would not think BW would stick to silicone. I don't know what the candlewic spray is but I've used it on pretty much everything and it works good. I don't use vegtable sprays because I would assume that the meltpoint is too low and just would blend right in with the wax at the temp I'm pouring at. Now, there are MANY people who swear by it - the latter is JMO! Its not that I did any scientific tests or anything! One thing though - I would NOT pour BW hotter than you need to - as THAT may make it stick more.

I mixed the glitter with the buff material and then applied that with my fingers. The lighter the touch the better - you only want to get the raised areas. I would not sprinkle the glitter in the molds first before pouring because you wouldn't really have control over where it settled. Plus I really think the rubnbuff stuff works much better than glitter alone. I think the "art glitter" is like what I used - cosmetic grade glitter - its very fine right? Not like the regular stuff.

Here is a pic of what glitter looks like just on a BW candle just sprinked on it:

http://www.candletech.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8804&d=1161442461 You can barely see it (it is pink, so its the same color as the candle so that doesn't help). Here it is mixed with rubnbuff and then applied:

http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37523 I made these to go with the ornaments as gifts actually. It really shows up much better than glitter alone. (You don't want to over do it with the glitter if you are doing candles though - as it will gum up the burn - I just got away with the amount I used). My pics are terrible, but Eugenia (another forum member fixed one up for me on that post).

Hope I answered everything.