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Thread: Bayberry candles

  1. #1

    Default Bayberry candles

    Has anyone ever made bayberry candles?
    All the instructions I found on the intertoobs say to boil the berries. Did that. Now I have a thin coat of wax all over the lid and sides of the pot and very little floating on the water (in a stainless pot I found at a yard sale yesterday - to avoid the "what did you do to my good pot!" thing.)

    The Myrica bushes I have are still kinda small but this is the first year they set fruit. I don't have enough here to make even one candle but kinda guessed that part. Most of the websites I found say you need 1.5 quarts of berries for one small candle. I had maybe 1/2 quart. Was gonna mix it with an unscented emergency candle I have here, to use the wick too.

    Wondering if "boil" is the wrong word.
    Gently warmed to the point of boiling might be more accurate?

    Any experience or references?
    Meanwhile I'll try to salvage this mess.
    If we are to have another contest in…our national existence I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism & intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other…
    ~ President Ulysses S. Grant


  2. #2
    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Watched this vid...and looks like she boiled it and then let it sit overnight.


    I am going to guess that she didn't add any additional wax other than what the berries made?
    So if you are going to make use of your berries, adding wax sounds like a plan.

    Now you have to wait for more berries....

    Let us know what you come up with.
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  3. #3
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    When I melt wax I use a Pyrex bread pan and place it on the burner of the stove. NOT ON HIGH. You can turn it on low and let the wax melt. NOT ON HIGH. Once you use the wax for whatever you will have some residue on the bread pan. Simply run it under hot water and PRESTO the wax is gone. (It's actually not gone. It went down the drain and into the sewer where sewer workers will cuss me while using that truck mounted vacuum thingy to clear the sewer line)

  4. #4

    Default

    It's still sitting in the pan. Decided to see what settled out by morning. (Mostly didn't want to clean the pan.)
    Doubt there is enough here but will see what we get.

    I do use a double boiler to melt wax. The stuff catches fire too easily. When I was a kid we used to make ice candles with the left over wax after the jams were done. Put a stick candle in a wax board milk carton and pack ice cubes around it. Then pour the hot melted Gulfwax in. After the wax set, you peeled off the carton and set the candle in the sink to drain. Made a really neat design.
    If we are to have another contest in…our national existence I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism & intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other…
    ~ President Ulysses S. Grant

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