I am a self taught candle maker. 

They started out being for my own use so organic & local were my first concerns, not appearance. But when people started to buy them, I worked hard on learning to make the beautiful beeswax look better.

I found that there were a certain amount of people who were interested in really tall pillars. 

REALLY TALL! Up to 15”.

Gorgous, right?!

So I thought, how hard can it be?

Turns out, just like everything in life...a lot harder than you think.

I was finally able to find molds that large (2”x 17” & 3”x 17”) and I thought that was the hard part.

Beeswax has a melt point of 130 degrees. That’s why it’s such a long burning wax. With a candle this large, it’s a lot of really hot wax. I quickly learned that mold sealer and duct tape were no match for that much hot wax.

I don’t have pictures of all the times scalding hot beeswax came oozing out the bottom of my mold, because I was too busy screaming and buring myself. But after 6 times of being unsuccessful at pouring a 3”x 12” Pillar, I gave up and decided to sleep on it.

What I came up with is, “stay cool”.

All that heat AND pressure from over 40ozs of burning hot Beeswax in a sheet metal cylinder needed some refrigeration.

So I froze the mold before I filled it and then I rested it on an ice pack.

But, on my 7th try, turns out I was too timid. (I can’t imagine why!) I poured too slowly. I got segments.

There were lines and bubbles. Not what I expected of own work.

But, I knew I was on the right track. So I dove in for an 8th time. Newly clean, wicked and chilled mold. I sat it on the freshly frozen ice pack and began to pour all 40+ozs of molten Beeswax at once!

I closed my eyes. I held my brealth and counted to ten. 

I turned out almost perfect. I hand make every one so none of them will be perfect, but I'll keep at it until it's as close as possible.