Tips, directions, and a tune for sinking into this lovely winter activity.
One of the beautiful things about homeschooling is how deeply we can dive into any subject, but it took me awhile before this really started to sink in. As a new mother, I was drawn to the beauty of wooden toys and slow living, taking cues from nature, and creating nourishing seasonal traditions in our home. Making our own candles felt like a perfect fit.
I had never dipped candles before. I had never even thought much about candles or candle-making, so the only path I saw to doing this with my children was to outsource. We found an apple-picking farm where a big part of the draw was candle-dipping. It all sounded delightful. We did it, but the experience was underwhelming. The wait in line took longer than the perfunctory “dip”. My children’s cheeks were not flushed with excitement, there were no exclamations of joy.
Little experiences like that were important stepping stones on my path toward finding my way as a homeschooler. It was not much later that things started to click, that I stopped looking outside of our home for others to provide my children with amazing experiences and started to grow into the reality of what homeschooling really is about: taking ownership of our family’s learning journey, co-creating, co-discovering, and opening up to and valuing all the possibilities for connection and excitement in our life together.
With something like candle dipping, the progression went from an assumption that my role was to curate a one-time moment for my children, to realizing something very different. The biggest shift occurred when I myself genuinely became interested in learning about candle dipping. Where does this beeswax come from exactly? How is it gathered and processed? Why beeswax over other types of wax? What kind of wicks should we use? As I wondered and learned and slowly gathered raw materials, my kids joined me on the ride. My enthusiasm fueled their engagement. I did not know what I was doing, but without meaning to, I was having fun and modeling self-directed, joyful learning. This exploration turned our candle dipping endeavor away from a token photo op into a deeper, more meaningful living memory.
It’s important to emphasize that we would never have gotten so deeply into candle making if I had not found it interesting. That distinction has been crucial in helping our homeschooling journey feel sane and real. My own enthusiasm and excitement about various paths we’ve gone down over the years has been a driving force in fueling my kids' engagement and interest in learning in general. Even when my kids aren’t interested, which happens a lot, it feels like pursuing my own passions and enjoying my own learning journeys are healthy for them to see.
I love beeswax candle dipping, for a handful of reasons:
It is viscerally wonderful - the smell of warmed beeswax when it fills our home just makes me smile. The magical alchemy of watching the liquid golden wax harden before our eyes is exciting, and the smoothness of our dipped candles is rewarding. I also love when form meets function, and observing the natural tapering that occurs when each dip lowers the wax level is always beautiful.
It is practical - as far as crafts go, I prefer the ones that are useful, that don’t end up all around the house collecting dust, and that are easily recyclable. Beeswax candles bring some warm light, a sweet smell, and then disappear. Lovely.
It has more than one purpose- We have made last-minute candles gifts for friends and family countless times, we have been able to make birthday candles, and we have been able to transform an unplanned day into what feels like a productive, calming crafting day with no planning, just because we have our candle making supply box always stocked and handy.
Candle-dipping has become a tradition in our house, but it’s not something we do just once a year. It’s something we do when we run out of our last batch and need some more. We are beeswax candlemakers now, not because we need the light, but because it is nice to burn candles when the days get shorter and cooler, and because we determined that beeswax was our preferred type of candle, and because it is cost-effective, empowering, and fun to find self-sufficiency in this modern world.
For anyone interested in beeswax candle making fun, here are some tips and takeaways from the last 10 years of dipping candles with my crew:
Stock up on beeswax - This disappears fast. Blocks of beeswax are always on my “school supplies” list each year, we go through about 4-5 1lb blocks a year.
Buy a melting pot - It’s worth it. If you want to dip candles, the height matters. If you want to pour wax into molds, the spill-proof pouring spouts are imperfect, but they get the job done. Dedicated crock pots are fine, but if you want the longer tapers, you need more height. Here’s what we use.
Prepare for the mess - Even if you are dipping outside, laying down drop cloths or old sheets is important because errant beeswax drips are inevitable and are not fun to clean up.
Be prepared for bees - For us at least, if we dip indoors and there are windows or doors open, a few bees always end up being drawn to our candle dipping and then stuck in the house. We’ve learned to close doors and windows before dipping.
Recycle all unused wax - All the extra bits from past candles can just go back in the pot for the next melting, all spilled wax can get peeled off of the drop cloths and go back in too.
Don’t start dipping right away - The melted wax, when it is at its hottest, is not ideal for dipping. We wait a bit because when the wax has cooled, each layer will be thicker and ultimately the candle will need fewer dips.
Don’t refill the wax mid-dip - you need to plan ahead and start off with enough wax in the pot, if you refill the wax it makes it difficult to judge how far to dip the candle to keep it uniform.
Set up a cold water dip jar - Totally optional, but we always do this and have used the same tall glass mason jar for ten years. I put some ice and water in it, and we dip the tapers into this between hot wax dips. It becomes part of the rhythm and it results in the candles taking less time to make.
Use clothespins for younger kids - Hot wax is no joke and it is hard to control wiggly little ones. If you do want to brave it, as I chose to do, clipping a clothespin to the top and only having the kids hold onto the wood worked for us.
The first few dips are the most important - after the first couple layers, gently lay the candles on their side and roll them back and forth a few times to ensure they are straight. With little ones, do this for them before everyone starts dipping.
Handle them with care, especially at the start - the kiss of death to a uniform taper is a crack, it’s hard to come back from it, and for us, this usually happens when we set the candle on its side to cool and it is put down too roughly. Adding lots of layers to this crack will still result in a fine, working candle, but it will forever have that weak spot and a bumpy section where it cracked.
Don’t dip too slowly - I’ve noticed some children think that the longer they hold their wick in the wax, the more wax will build up. The opposite is true. The ideal dip is a fluid up and down motion, not stopping at all once it is submerged.
Don’t neglect the base - Use a knife to cut the drip at the bottom off from time to time throughout the dipping, it establishes where the wick ends and will result in a flat bottom that is hard to achieve once the wax is really hardened.
Do your research about wicks - One year we made a whole batch as gifts for friends and our wicks were too thin and none of the candles burned well. Beeswax burns hotter than other waxes and requires wicks that are a thicker diameter. Don’t make a huge batch of candles until you have tried burning a few and have determined which wick size burns best for you. Hemp works better for beeswax than cotton, but thicker cotton wicks are fine too. Recently we discovered that remembering to trim the wicks each time we light the candle is important for minimizing smoke and waste, ¼ “ is supposedly ideal.
Candle molds are messy - I find the making of them less viscerally rewarding, but they make lovely gifts. Just be prepared for more spills, drips, and wasted beeswax.
Here is our little family’s tried and true beeswax candle-dipping method:
Prepare a double boiler on the stove, or just put your melting pot directly on the stove (we've done both). Be sure to fill up the melting pot with enough beeswax to get your desired taper length.
Prepare the space with newspaper or drop cloths under all the areas where you will be swinging your tapers. If desired, prepare a cold dip jar with water and a piece of ice.
Prepare the wicks at the beginning (and before children enter the picture); dip them a few times in the wax, gently lay them on newspaper, and gently roll them back and forth to get them perfectly straight. Wait a bit for them to harden.
Start dipping. This is the fun part! Sink into this slow, rhythmic age-old tradition in any way you like. Relish the warmth and that intoxicating smell! I included a song we used to sing below. It can also be a great time to just talk and connect. Sometimes, a rich silence is what is called for in this space. The only rule is to keep things calm, hot wax is no joke.
After the candles have started to develop, gently lay the candle on its side and use a knife to cut off the bottom drip. If you wait to do this until the end it is harder to determine where the wick actually ends. You don’t have to do this too often, just if the bottom starts to get lost again.
Keep dipping until your candle reaches the desired size.
Gently lay the candle on its side and use a knife to cut off the bottom drip one last time to establish a flat base.
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Hang the candles to dry. You can suspend a rod or hanging line of some sort; a broom handle over two chairs or a clothesline works well...whatever you have handy. Just find somewhere where they will not be handled for several hours. We usually give them a full nights rest before using them.
All done!
One last little nugget, here is the candle dipping song that we still sing when we dip our candles. We learned it at a Waldorf Winter Faire many moons ago.
Quiet, quiet, do not make a sound...
Dipping, dipping, candles smooth and round...
Holding now our wicks so tight,
We all make some candle light,
Quiet, quiet, do not make a sound...
Singing can add to the rhythm and intention of the task. It can help set a sweet tone and keep everyone focused and calm while dipping. You can sing it on a loop, but it gets old fast. I sang it to start things off calmly, and then, as I read the room, would start it up again when it felt right. When the kids were littler, and we did this more in groups, we would set up the hot wax on one end of the table and the cold water dip at the other. The children would walk slowly around the table, and by the time they made it back to the wax, the candle would be hardened enough to be ready for the next dip. This tune helped set the slow, intentional pace and kept things from getting chaotic. You always want calm around hot wax :
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