Dipping Beeswax Candles

Dipping beeswax candles are so much fun, time consuming yes, but fun.
My daughters and I learned how to dip candles about 15 years ago. I have a wonderful book published by Readers Digest called "Back to Basics" A really good book for learning the ways of a Homestead or learning how to do things the old fashioned way. There are instructions in this book for dipping candles.
Many historical sites have a little class in dipping candles where you can learn how to do it, but they are usually paraffin candles and not beeswax.
I purchased my bees wax for many years from a local bee keeper but he recently retired so this year I purchased my wax on eBay and I am very happy with the quality of the wax. I ordered about 20 lbs of wax for this years candles. And I use candle wicking that is found in just about any craft store. I use 100% cotton wick.
Having the wax at the right temperature is very important. Too hot will melt what you have already dipped onto the wick and beeswax is highly flammable so you never ever want to get it very hot. I heat my wax with the burner on low, and keep it there the whole time I am dipping. It is best to keep your container of wax in a bigger pan of water. I have used an old crock pot too to melt the wax, but it seems the newer crock pots are not deep enough to make candles the right length now.
Often the instructions will suggest dipping the candle in cold water between dips in the wax. I like to make candles on days when the house is a bit cold and let the wax cool that way in between dips. I make several pairs at a time, so by the time I make the cycle back to the first pair, the wax is cooled .
Doing a search on google produced some good instructions on dipping beeswax candles.
This one site was very informative and should help anyone get started making their own candles.
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pdfs/Beeswax.pdf
Making your own candles with very small children around may not be advisable as you are working with hot wax. When the girls were young and we made candles we often did it with an old electric crock pot, outside so if any wax dripped, it was on the ground and not on my counter top or floor which is so hard to clean up.