I have some pure bees wax from a farmers market that looks and smell wonderful. I also have some 'virgin' bees wax from some friends who are just harvested their bee hives. They gave me the wax and I've been trying to figure out how to filter it to get all the little bits of whatever out of it. Do I melt and then pour it through a screen of some sort? I've haven't found any information about this step...so I'm asking my fellow Countrysiders for help. HELP!

-- claudia in NY (cooleyville@aol.com), October 08, 2001

Answers

Claudia- To get really nice clean beeswax I first heat it and then strain it through an old piece of nylon pantyhose.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), October 08, 2001.

I just use akitchen seive,, then when Im making the candles,, I dont "scoop" down to the very bottom,, just kinda off the top. That way,, if there is anything else left,,, it wont get into the candles. But,, the ones that sell fastest,, are the ones with small bits of brown in the candles.. not sure why

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 08, 2001.

Whoops...I also had one more question.....do you 'cut' it with regular wax. I've read some recipes where they put 1/2 bees wax and 1/2 premium candle wax...does that work out okay? or do you lose alot of the bees wax aroma? please let me know your thoughts on this as well...thanking you in advance.

-- claudia in NY (cooleyville@aol.com), October 08, 2001.

We melt the beeswax in water on the stove. The wax melts and floats to the top of the water and the crud ends up somewhere in between. If you do this you lose a small amount of wax that is on the bottom and gets the crud stuck in it-just scrape or cut it off. Straining probably sounds like a better method and I think I'll probably try that now that I know it works, but I just thought I'd put my two cents in in case it came in handy!

-- Sarah K. (ladynuala@hotmail.com), October 08, 2001.

you can cut it with some parifan wax,, it will make the candle not droop in extreme heat. But dont cut it too much,, it wont be the same as,,"old fashion candles"

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 09, 2001.

When we used to have bees, before the trachial mites killed them off. I used to make candles from beeswax. I heated the wax (smells great) and then just give it a quick stir, and after it cools completely just cut a slice off the bottom where all the "gunk" has settled. We're talking about a realtively small slice. Good luck!

-- Harmony Bullington (harmonyfarm57@hotmail.com), October 09, 2001.

I do what Sarah does. I put the wax in water and melt it. The crud goes to the bottom, then I can scrape it off the wax. This works very well for me since I don't have a sieve.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), October 09, 2001.

claudia, A friend of mine puts the bees wax in a nylon sock and ties it shut. Then she boiles it in water...the wax floats to the top and the sludge is left in the sock. When the water and wax cools she just pops the clean wax out of the pan. :) tang

-- tang (tang@mtaonline.net), October 10, 2001.

I have pretty good luck straining my beeswax through coffee filters. Jason

-- Jason Kendrick (kendrick@mddc.com), October 14, 2001.