My secret dipping
The Sansaire heater provides a source of hot water that can melt beeswax and keep it at a precisely-controlled temperature for dipping. New ones cost about $200 but I didn't pay that much. I've had mine since the project was launched a couple of years ago on Kickstarter. Using it for the candles was completely unintentional - I peeked inside a cupboard looking for something else and Eureka!
Our candle-dipping kit involves a large plastic pickle bucket, a 5" x 12" glass flower vase, the Sansaire heater, and a few more items (the optional T-Rex sprayer is from Alton Brown). Fill the bucket with hot water and turn on the heater. Fill the vase with chunks of wax (and/or melt some wax on the stove in a pan and pour it slowly and carefully into the heated vase).
You will have to weight down your partially-filled vase unless it is glued to the bottom of the bucket, or you find some other way to offset its buoyancy. That's why I have a chunk of marble on top. Once it is full it's going to stay still.
Here you can see I have melted the wax. My water temp is set to 165-166° F to make up for losses into the room and through the bucket. Glass conducts heat adequately (only $6 at the florist's shop if
Dipping just one candle at a time is laborious, so I made a jig to hold 6 wicks at a time. That's all the candles I can fit into my 5" vase.
I have carefully placed my bucket in the sink so NO wax can go down the drain. That would be catastrophic for the pipes. It's safer to do this outside but it's my house, so I chose the sink.
In the following photo you can see small threaded nuts that I am using to weight down the wicks. Otherwise the wicks will bend or float.
After a few dips you can cut these nuts off, then peel off and reuse the wax. The wicks will stay straight on their own.
You will need another bucket to hold the wicks so they can dry. Here you can see the jig which I made from the center core of a spool of wire. See your local hardware store for a freebie if you don't have one laying around. The stick holds up the spool without touching the candles. Any touches mean flaws in the candle.
A third bucket is handy if you want some cool water to accelerate your dipping speed. Notice the bucket full of water is covering the drain. No wax in the pipes!
So the process is to dip the wick down, then up smoothly without pausing, then cool for a minute in the air (or in the water), then repeat. After 4-5 layers you need to give it a good rest, or put it in the water for a couple minutes. Wipe off any water bubbles and repeat until the candles are the proper diameter.
Cut off any lumps or drips at the bottom, trim the wick end, roll them to straighten, and leave to cool.
Add more wax to the vase as its level drops, and repeat.
The end results are shown below. The lighter color candles at the top came from St. Tikhon's Monastery. I put them in for comparison. They are made of fresh beeswax straight from the hive, and cost me $11 per pound plus shipping.
The candles on the lower right are partially-burned devotional candles; they came from Russia and another church. The ones in the center are from the first batch of experimental candles we made. The ones on the left are big and ugly, but I consider them part of the learning process.
One good thing about this candle business - if you make a faulty product you can melt it down and make a better one!
Stay tuned for the next installment.
