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Hand Rolled Beeswax Candles by Jamerson's Crafts |
Beeswax is made by honeybees approximately 14 days old. Much nectar and honey is lost as potential food in the making of beeswax. For this reason beeswax is removed ,reshaped and used over and over within the hive. The beeswax combs are the nursery, walls, home, pharmacy and dance floor for the bees. It requires approximaterly 55 Gms of beeswax to store each kilogram of honey.
When beeswax is first secreted by the bees it is bright white. over time the beeswax becomes yellow to tan and if several years old may be dark brown in color.
Fun Fact: Wax from bumblebees has a low melting point of 30 to -40 degrees Celsius and is mixed with pollen for use as a building material.
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Historical Uses of Beeswax |
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Actual candles survive from the first century in France and Denmark in addition to early paintings depicting candles.
In Australia, aborigines used beeswax to make wax figurines for use in religious ceremonies.
Beeswax is often preserved in archeological digs. It has been used to make decorative objects as well as for casting metals. Beeswax figurines survive from Egyptian tombs dating to 3400 BCE.
Beeswax has been used as wax seals for documents and has many uses in artists media such as binding agents for pigments as in encaustic painting and as adhesives. Beeswax is used as a resist in batik as well.
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Modern Production and Uses of Beeswax |
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Before the invention of the centrifugal extractor, wax was separated from the honey by squeezing and straining. Today beekeepers obtain their wax from capping when the honey is being extracted, bits of burr comb (beeswax the bees have built onto the side of the hive body and between frames), scrapings and recycling old combs. The beeswax is then separated from any remaining honey and wax cocoons by by various ways. The simplest being to melt the comb in hot water and the beeswax will rise to the surface and cool and harden.
The lightest and generally considered best grade is the light yellow wax from honey cappings.
For each ton of extracted honey, about 20-25 pounds of beeswax is produced.
In the U.S. demand is greater than supply.
Beeswax today is used in candles, cosmetics, soaps, pharmaceuticals (pill coatings), dentistry, waterproofer, floor and furniture polishes, crayons, chewing gum, and nursery grafting.
Source: "The Hive and the Honey Bee" A Dadant Publication