Best Beeswax for Candle Making – ARTnews.com

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The natural wax derived from honeybees, also called cera alba, is a versatile substance that can be used for a variety of creative projects. Because it’s natural, it is an excellent pick for candle making—and a better alternative to paraffin wax, which releases harmful chemicals as it burns. Beeswax also generally burns longer than your typical soy wax candle. Simply melt the beeswax down, add your own dyes or oils, and shape a candle in a mold for a custom piece of home decor. Below, find the best beeswax for your candle-making projects!

ARTnews RECOMMENDS
Sky Organics Organic White Beeswax Pellets
This beeswax from a small, family-owned company is an excellent and reliable base ingredient for DIY products. The white pellets are cosmetic grade and consistently clean, having been processed in small batches and triple-filtered, which will yield a cleaner burn. The wax has a fragrance, but it is mild and won’t overpower any added scents. The pellets also melt quickly and integrate easily with added coloring. They come in a nicely designed 16-pound resealable bag.

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Enkaustikos U.S. Pharmaceutical Grade Beeswax
Enkaustikos’ beeswax is designed for creating your own encaustic medium, but it’s also a great choice for candlemaking. The beeswax has been purified without any harsh chemicals, which refines the wax without weakening it. Because it’s made for use with paints, you can rely on these small and thin granules to blend beautifully with any colors you add. The beeswax is available in smaller sizes—eight ounces, in addition to the more common 16 ounces—and in both white and yellow, which will impart a deeper color to candles.

ANOTHER GOOD OPTION
Artminds Beeswax Pastilles
If you like the cheery yellow of beeswax, this is a great 12-ounce pellet option for creating bright and natural-looking candles. The pellet sizes are consistent so they melt uniformly, and the results mix well with other ingredients, like fragrance oils and dyes, should you want to alter the color of the wax. Unlike many of our other picks, however, this beeswax doesn’t come with any information on its purification process; we recommend testing a small sample.

EDUCATORS’ CHOICE
Toadily Handmade Beeswax
This kit provides a fun, kid-friendly way to make candles from beeswax. It comes with 10 sheets of beeswax measuring about 8 by 16¼ inches, each in bright colors, and about six yards of cotton wick. Simply cut the sheets and roll them around the wick to produce pillar candles! You can also cut them at an angle to make tapered ones, use cookie cutters to make fun shapes, and collect scraps to make smaller candles. The 100 perceent natural beeswax has a pleasant smell and yields a clean burn.

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Jacquard Yellow Beeswax Block
This refined yellow beeswax from Jacquard is made for at-home crafts. Rich and filtered, it has a slightly smoky-honey smell that can be disguised with essential oils if you wish. This beeswax comes in one solid brick, which you can grate or cut up (with some effort), but the easiest way to use it would be to melt it at one go in a double boiler. The wax mixes smoothly with dyes and stores well. In our book, this is a great pick if you want to make multiples of one product at once; otherwise, you can melt the brick, sculpt your own smaller wax disks or cubes as the wax rehardens, and save them for another creative session.