Candle Moulds Nature

Floating candles are a different technique

It is the cheapest category to start with — from €11.95 — and the one with the highest-margin format: the floating candle.

A floating candle asks two different things of you. The wick has to be short and fine, because the piece is low and wide: a long wick sinks and goes out. And the shape has to be stable: rose and daisy are designed with a wide base for that reason. Once lit it floats in a bowl of water, and there beeswax shows its natural colour far better than in an upright candle.

The skep in a log is one of the pieces that works best as a beekeeping gift, alongside those in moulds in general.

What they all share

They are silicone moulds, so they stretch to release and forgive shapes with a narrow neck. Two-part ones close with elastic bands: without them the wax escapes at the seam, which is failure number one on a first attempt.

Beeswax melts between 61 and 65 ºC and there is no need to go beyond that; above 140 ºC the volatiles that give it the honey smell evaporate. And the wick goes with the candle diameter: too fine and it tunnels, too thick and it smokes. All of that, with wicks and bands, is in candle-making supplies, and the full mould range in candle moulds.