Candle Facts & Tips
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CANDLE BURNING TIPS
* Refrigerate candles for a few hours before burning.
*Put a tiny amount of water in bottom of votive jar for easy
removal of excess wax.
* Every time a candle is lit it should be allowed to burn long
enough that the wax pool melts to the edge - or as far out as it
is able. After the candle is out, gently fold any wall into the
wax pool without letting it spill over.
* Beeswax candles have a melting point over 150° and melt
much more slowly than paraffin, so they need to burn longer
than a comparably-sized paraffin candle to burn well.
* Trim wick to 1/4 or 3/8 of an inch before first lighting. Wicks
normally bend and are "self-trimming", and they usually do not
need to be cut once lit. After a wick has been burned,
extinguished, and is cold, it is very fragile and should not be
touched.
* HOWEVER, if a candle begins to smoke or the flame
becomes too large, extinguish, check wick length and trim to
3/8" while the wick is still warm and flexible.
* If a candle begins to drip, extinguish; re-light when cooled.
Candles burned in a strong draft may burn unevenly and drip.
* Beeswax is precious, so save the leftovers. Use leftover
beeswax for furniture polish (mix with turpentine), batik, to wax
sewing threads, seal letters, or make new candles.
* "Bloom" is the natural frosting that appears over time and
only on beeswax. It's a good indicator of whether a candle is,
in fact, made of beeswax. To remove (not necessary), wipe
candles with old nylon stockings or by hand - it's good for the
skin.
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Bayberry Candle Facts
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Bayberry candles have been holiday favorites for many years.
Bayberry wax is also known as "bayberry tallow" or "myrtle
wax." It is the rarest and most prized of all candle waxes.
There are two types of Bayberry shrubs, the Northern
Bayberry (Myrica Pensylvanica) and Southern Bayberry
(Myrica cerifera), both which produce the berries. The most
commonly found wax is from the Northern Bayberry that grows
in thickets near swamps and marshes along the Atlantic coast
and shores of Lake Erie.
Bayberry wax comes from the berries of the bayberry shrub.
The berries have a waxy coating on their skin and when
boiled, the wax separates and can be collected. It takes about
15 pounds of bayberries to make one pound of wax. The
berries are boiled and the wax floats on top of the water. The
wax itself is a soft olive green with a wonderful green hay
aroma.
Candles Of The Earth bayberry candles are either 100%
bayberry wax or for a lower cost alternative, we also make
bayberry candles from a mixture of 100% bayberry wax and
100% beeswax. Either way, you are getting the real thing -
not a "bayberry scent" or "bayberry fragrance" candle. It
makes all the difference.
Bayberry candles are especially popular around the holidays
and burning a bayberry candle on either Christmas Eve or New
Year's Eve all the way to the end guarantees good luck the
next year. As the saying goes: "A bayberry candle burned to
the socket brings food to the larder and gold to the pocket."
Early American colonists used the wax from bayberries to
make candles. In the novel "The Swiss Family Robinson" by
Johann David Wyss, the shipwrecked family made candles
using the wax from wild bayberries.
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