Eric’s Beeswax Candle Making Workshop
A few weekends ago, I went to a workshop held by an expert candle maker in my bee club, Eric Josephson. Eric has won awards at various honey shows for his incredible candles including Best in Show at Topsfield Fair, Best in Show at Mass Beekeepers, Most Points In Wax at Topsfield Fair, as well as numerous First Place finishes and more. In addition to using standard molds, Eric makes his own molds for many of his beeswax candles and they are just beautiful!
Eric has a complete candle making workshop in his basement which makes pouring beeswax candles very convenient (Aren’t you jealous?). After giving us a brief tutorial, he generously let us have free range over his workshop. This was amazing because each of us got to try out any mold or candle making technique we wanted. A few of us even brought our own molds to test out. We all spent the day pouring beeswax candles with bee buddies and getting tips from Eric the expert candle maker.
Eric showed us different contraptions to melt and filter the wax and how to make them. Then he explained how to use several types of candle molds and how to pour them correctly. We even got to try our hand at dipping candles.
He then showed us how to dye beeswax different colors to make colored candles and briefly explained how to make our own candle molds. Later Eric went over how to make and finish candles for competition and how to package them for sale. In the photo below, Joyce Maher is weighing the candles she made to see how much beeswax she used. I love the three wise monkeys -see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
Fruit in different colors was a popular candle to make that day. We all learned a great deal and had fun acquiring new candle making skills.
Thanks Eric for sharing your wisdom and opening up your home to teach us the tricks of the trade! You may have some new competition at the honey shows this year!