So after collecting the honey and straining it we were left with lots of bits of sticky comb which is of course just wax laying in wait! We just had to separate it. I'm not sure we did it exactly right, Dennis and I had conflicting Internet searches, but the outcome was still fun.
I first put the gloopy bits into a piece of cheesecloth, tied it off and dipped it into a bowl of warm water. This was done to try and wash away some of the excess honey. I poured that off and repeated the process till the water was pretty clear. When untied I then had the crumbly, much less sticky remains.
That's where Dennis's research kicked in and we put the crumbles into a double boiler. The heat melted the wax to liquid which we then strained into a bowl through another piece of cheesecloth. What was left was a bowl of butter yellow wax with a bit of residue.
I'm not sure yet what we plan to do with it. We might reheat and strain it again. Maybe some little tealights? Maybe lip balm? I need to research it more. I will say this, while fun for us, it would be quite a bit of work if you needed the wax for your primary source of light! My hat is off to the pioneers. Shew!
I doubt we'll become professional candle makers. I do want to try it again though. Dennis wants to get one of the heated knives to use when uncapping the comb for honey extraction. I think that would make for a smoother process. Raking the comb with the de capping tool makes it sort of messy, honey and wax wise.
No comments:
Post a Comment