The great fails of beeswax

Hi everyone! We’re stuck inside thanks to this big snow storm. I hope everyone is staying safe and warm. I was going through some pictures of my journey in beeswax and found so many fails. I thought maybe we should all have a laugh at my expense and view them together. Enjoy!

I thought I would try making tarts. Everyone seems to have a wax burner and I loved the idea that I could always have any scent I want and could use any shape. I decided to just put a one third ounce flower of pure, colored, scented beeswax in my burner. It took forever because the great thing about beeswax candles is that they burn for a really long time very slowly. The bad thing for tarts is they burn very slowly.

I thought maybe I’ll just add coconut oil to it and stir it in. When that didn’t work I stirred a lot more in. The result was my burner is now all yucked up.

 

It turns out there is an actual science to this. Now I know what I’m doing

 and I really like it. I don’t enjoy trying to get the scent out which is why I won’t use silicone molds anymore for anything scented.

 

 

Since my beautifully colored and scented wax didn’t work out as tarts I decided to make candles. It turns out there’s an art to that too. Why did I think it would be so easy? There’s a tiny hole at the bottom of pillar molds for the wick to string through. Some people use duck tape to seal it, others use wick mold. Neither of these worked for me. We finally figured what worked best was masking tape and silly putty. Oh and always have wax paper underneath to collect the escaped wax when you don’t add enough putty or smooth it on just right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was so excited when I got the big pillar mold. It’s so tall and fat. Yes it uses a ton of wax but it looks so beautiful and I couldn’t wait to display it on my kitchen table.

I ran out of putty so I decided to buy actual wick mold. It wouldn’t stick. Every single time I’d use it the wax would just pour out of the bottom. I was so upset and angry with it I still have never tried to make another. I think I’m ready to face that challenge now though. I bought several wick sizes and I have so much putty from the toy department. I will make this thing work!

 

 

 

 

At least when you fail at making candles you can always re-melt them and try again.

 

My husband was really wanting me to make tapers. He was so excited. He showed me YouTube videos and surprised me with this big fancy mold to make several at once. Okay sounds like fun. I watched others online. I got this.

 

 

 

Even though most of them hollowed out I decided to test burn one anyway. I used the recommended wick size but that was clearly not the right size. I finally got several sizes of wick and now I’m ready to really do this right.

 

 

Now I decided to try out some tart and votive molds. I would get the wicks centered but when I poured they moved. The glue for it was junk and did not work for me.

Even with lots of practice, sometimes you get them right and sometimes you get them very wrong. There’s so much to learn. It’s so fun to try thought.

 

This is my most recent attempt. My husband bought me a bunch of new molds. I thought wick pins would be so easy. Again, I have got to stop being so full of myself. A lot of them are not perfectly centered but still remarkably better than “freehand.”

The heart is another story. It’s a completely different kind of mold than I’ve ever used. I poured it too hot and when I got a hole I filled it but it bubbled up. Over correcting is never the answer to candles. The bottom ended up with that big bump. When it cooled and I could take it out, the other side was so beautiful. I can’t wait to get really good at these. I love them the best. My mom has already asked for some with her favorite scent. As far as the votive, I’m not giving up on it yet but after slicing my finger on the metal mold we’re taking a break for a couple days to rethink things.

If you’ve read my other post you’ll see where I had a hard time pouring (the first few times honestly) my lip moisturizers. My husband and I really wanted to make lip moisturizers and heard so many people asking for them too. This time I did so much research and really thought I knew what I was doing. We went to the grocery and my husband got the “oil” we thought. It turned out it was extract. He didn’t think it’d be a big deal so I tried it.

The thing about lip moisturizers is you can’t just melt these down when you mess up. Okay, I went to a different store and looked in a different department. I found the oil. Or so I thought. Again I had used extract. I was so mad at myself. Finally online we found a local place that sells actual food grade oil. We called and made complete sure before we purchased. Finally we have the correct ones. They turned out perfect. After this big storm I can’t wait to go down and get different oils now that I know what I’m doing finally. I also know to never “know” exactly what I’m doing. I must remember all of the steps and take my time to do it correctly. I fully believe in only selling the best products.

So there ya go. Now you have had a little insight into what all goes into making our products. I hope you had a laugh or at least have learned to not be so hard on yourself when you mess up. I’m having so much fun. I have finally found my passion and I want to share that passion with all of you.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this very long post and stay tuned. I have so many more adventures to come and you know there will be so many more failures that come with them.

Stay warm and safe,

Kiley