Decorative Candles |
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 | You’d have to go a ways to beat the many uses of wax, the foremost being to bring light to the world. But it enlightened Man in other ways as well.
In Roman times, messages were often sent on wood tablets coated with wax. The text would be engraved in the surface with a stylus. Upon receipt and reading, the surface could be softened, the text erased, and the tablet re-used to answer the sender. Wax has also been found on Egyptian mummies, possibly used to coat the wrappings and preserve the body. Strangely enough, the late Roman era would see another Egyptian use of wax, that of encaustic painting, used to create portraits of the deceased by mixing pigment with melted wax and applying it to a board that was then secured to the mummified remains.
These colorful glimpses into antiquity survived surprisingly well, seeing that the traditional use is thought to have died out around the third century A.D. It is all the more unusual when you consider that beeswax itself is not known for durability, being much softer and less durable than spermaceti wax or the later paraffin wax. But that very malleability made it ideal for sculpting, and the art of lost wax casting, which is still practiced today. In ancient Greece, a figure would be sculpted from softened wax, and then a mold was cast around it. When the mold was complete, it would be heated and the way drained off. Molten bronze was then poured inside to produce a replica of the original wax figure.
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Birch Candle
- Rustic accent
- Non-scented
- 7 x 4 inches
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Bark Candle
- Rustic candle
- Non-scented
- 7 x 4 inches
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Margarita Candle
- Festive candles
- Wax, glass
- Sold as a pair
More Closeout Sale...
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LED Tealight Candle - White
- Soft lighting
- LED source
- 1.5 inch diameter
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LED Tealight Candle - Yellow
- Romantic light
- LED source
- 1.5 inch diameter
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Battery Operated Candle
- Romantic mood-setter
- Made from real wax
- Takes two AAA batteries
- 6.25 x 6.25 inches
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Bless This Home Candle
- Bless This Home Poem
- 5 1/4 Inches Tall
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Making Decorative Candles
All of this thanks to the busy little bee. Those bees reproduced in a continuous cycle, or we would have very little wax to play around with. Each worker bee has eight wax producing glands on their underside, with which they turn out scales. But only for about 5-6 days of their brief lives. Once they become gatherers of pollen, the wax production ceases. Meanwhile, they form a scale and shed it, using them to build the classic honeycomb structures inside their hive. So tiny are these scales, it would take 30,800 to make an ounce.
Given that limited production life, and the fact that bees in many climates hibernated over the winters, it is little wonder that beeswax candles lagged far behind tallow and spermaceti in popularity. So hard was it to harvest, and being soft and prone to damage, it became an expensive commodity usually reserved for the rich or well-off merchant classes who could afford them.
Today, beeswax provides some of the most beautiful and decorative candles for home use by everyone. Whether you prefer the plain honeycomb pattern rolled into a tapered cylinder shape, or even pillar styles made from shorter but longer sheets of the waxy material, there is a style for whatever use it is intended. Beeswax carries its own definitive scent, but also comes in dyed and colored candles as well.
Thankfully, tallow fell out of favor when spermaceti came along, and when that was replaced by paraffin, we entered an age where candles became less of a necessity and more of a décor accessory.
Decorative candles today are used for color accents during the day, and mood lighting in the evening. Romance for two, or dinner for twenty, you’ll find decorative candles of a scent and shape to light up the occasion. |
