|
Tips for Making Beeswax Rolled Candles
From At Wick's End
Tim Myers
Rolled candles are a great way to begin candlemaking. They are easy to make, producing a satisfying product with minimum effort. And the candles burn great too. This is an especially easy way to get started with kids.
Once you've mastered the technique of rolling a tight candle with the wax sheets, it's fun to play and experiment with cookie cutters. We make all kinds of shapes, from card-suit candles to red hearts on Valentine's Day to green Christmas tree candles in December. It's especially nice to alternate
two complementary colors as you build up your cookie cutter candles. For July 4th, try stacking individual candle cut-outs with red, cream and blue waxes for a patriotic centerpiece candle.
To make a layered candle with cookie cutters, treat the wax sheet as if it were dough and cut individual thicknesses out of the colored wax you prefer. Open cutters work best here,
as the wax sometimes get stuck in the closed cutters. Build a candle with four or six layers, remembering to put the wick in the middle. Don't be afraid to press the edges of the candle together. This gives the candle a softer, more rounded look
and also serves to bind the pieces together. A blow-dryer gently run over the edges can help soften the wax, just enough to further press the candle together.
Another technicque we enjoy with wax sheets is roling two diagonally trimmed pieces, alternating colors together, giving the candle a nice layered look.
To finish off your rolled projects, you can dip the bottoms in a pan of melted wax, sealing the candle and giving it a more stable base, but it's not really necessary.
The most important thing to remember when making candles is to have fun!
More about At Wick’s End
Tim Myers
Upon his Great-Aunt Belle's death, Harrison Black inherits
her candle shop. When he begins to suspect foul play in
her
death, he does a bit of sleuthing. But it looks like he's
playing with fire-because somebody wants Harrison to mind
his own beeswax...
Berkley (Prime Crime), February 2004
Featuring: Harrison Black
192 pages ISBN: 0425194604
Paperback
$6.99
Also by Tim Myers:
 Booked for Murder, September 2004
Room for Murder, September 2003
Murder Checks Inn, January 2003
Reservations for Murder, June 2002
Innkeeping with Murder, June 2001
(Notify me via e-mail when Tim Myers releases a new book.)
|
