Thursday, November 12, 2009

For the Love of Bees



The Bee

His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for the bee’s experience
Of clovers and of noon!

- Emily Dickinson


Oh sweet success! Yesterday I mentioned that I was attempting to make beeswax ornaments. Today I proudly report that sweet scent of beeswax is a fragrant addition to our home, and I'm so pleased with how simple and beautiful these ornaments turned out. I tried several different types of string to hang them with - cotton string, natural raffia, and jute. All had varying degrees of success, but in the end, I've decided that jute takes to the wax the best - and provides a sturdier loop for these delicate ornaments.

The Little was enthralled with the whole process. He pulled up his chair to stand beside the counter as I carefully poured wax into each mold. He sniffed the beeswax bricks repeatedly, inhaling their honeyed smell. He carefully held each ornament as I removed it from its casing.





Here are a few tips for those of you who will make your own ornaments.

1. Chill your molds first. Whether they be ceramic, plastic, or polyurethane. Pull them out just before pouring the wax.

2. Spray each mold with just a dab of olive oil (or some other sort of vegetable oil) for easier removal.

3. Place wax paper down under your molds. If you have a messy pour, the beeswax will pop right off the wax paper when it hardens - so you can toss it right back in your double boiler.

4. Once your ornaments are a soft set and cloudy, place them in the freezer, on a flat surface for about 5 minutes. This shrinks the wax slightly and allows for you to remove them from the mold.

5. Any rough edges can be removed by heating a butter knife over a flame and gently running it over the edges of the ornament.

Our craft day was so successful that I've decided to go and look for more candy molds today to make more ornaments!



Yours in gratitude to the bees,

Simple Mama

34 comments:

  1. those are beautiful! where do you get the molds? thank you so much for the tips!

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  2. Marina, I picked up the molds in the candy section of Michael's. They were lollipop molds.

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  3. These are so awesome! I think I have found the boys gift to the grandparents for Christmas. :)

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  4. I love it! I might have to try this with my kids. I think they will love it.

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  5. Very cute ornaments. I also love the way your picture captures how gentle Little is with the ornaments.

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  6. Those are gorgeous! I love the intricate snowflake designs in the wax. Beautiful! I sent my hubby on a candy mold hunt today so we'll see if he finds something. I have 4 1/2 lbs of wax waiting here beside me. :)

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  7. I HAVE to find tose snowflake molds <3 We LOVE snowflakes here :)

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  8. What a BEAUTIFUL project! I love beeswax and definitely want to try this!

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  9. Awesome Danita! Maybe we could make some on Thanksgiving?

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  10. i got the snowflake molds last night at michael's...hope to get my post up tomorrow about making raw chocolate (and using the molds :)). now i can't decide if i am going to use the molds for raw chocolate or beeswax....hmmm? what's a girl to do? go to michael's again, i guess.

    love the bee ones. must have missed those. are they from michaels too?

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  11. Oh I can't wait to see your choco/beeswax craftiness Hillary. I actually got the bee molds from the local beekeeping supply store. They were actually soap molds.

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  12. Those are beautiful. Thanks so much for all the tips! I don't know that we will be making them this year, but definitely someday.

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  13. Oh my! Renee just sent me a link to this post! How wonderful! I was just about to try making these for Christmas gifts! Thanks you dearly for the great instructions! I'm glad to have discovered your beautiful blog and look forward to visiting again!
    love, sara

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  14. great gift ideas! thanks for the tips! I might try my hand on it this christmas.

    visiting from Passionate Blogs, have a great day! I think I'm "bloggyblocked", can't put my thoughts into words so I'm going to show some bloglove and go comment-crazy instead!

    have a great day!

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  15. What a crafty blog you have here...I love it :D

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  16. Beautiful wax ornaments - I've seen these all over blogland this week but yours are by far the neatest!

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  17. These are so amazingly beautiful! Thanks for the tips. I love your blog x

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  18. yay! thanks for stopping by my blog! that led me here and to your beautiful ornaments...next on my beeswax crafting list. i just got those snowflake molds at michael's yesterday. how did you get around those lollipop stick holes? did the wax run out or did you plug those holes up some how? thanks for all the great tips! ;)

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  19. what a wonderful craft and it must smell sooooo wonderful with all that beeswax!!

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  20. These are so beautiful! I HAVE to copy you.

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  21. these are just gorgeous! We love making ornaments each Chirstmas, I think I will add thes eto my "wish" list for things I want to make this season. Thanks for sharing

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  22. These are SO beautiful!! I can't wait to make some!!

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  23. Hooray! Last year we started a new tradition - getting our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and making all new ornaments each year. These will be a great addition! Thanks for sharing your tips.

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  24. Beautiful! I can't wait to make some of these.

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  25. Gorgeous - just Gorgeous. I'm off to look for some moulds. Thanks for sharing.
    NZ

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  26. I have just discovered your beautiful blog and am having alovely time browsing.
    I can't wait to try these with our children. I have often wondered how to do this and I didn't want to buy a kit as I think often I am sure I can do it for cheaper without a kit.
    Thank you for sahring and I can't wait to look at lots os your back posts. We seem to sahre similar interests.
    Blessings

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  27. may i ask how you attached the strings? i think i can wing it but maybe you have some tips. these are really beautiful. thanks.

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  28. Ella,

    With lollipop molds that have a channel, I just placed the jute string inside of the channel and poured the wax slowly.

    For molds without a channel, or molds where the channel would cause the ornament to hang upside down I poured a tiny bit of wax, laid my jute string on top of it after it had started to cloud up a bit and then finished pouring the wax. Really very easy actually. Have fun!

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  29. OK, I have gone to 75 stores today and I still cannot find a suitable snowflake mold. Can you tell me a little bit more about the round ones you're using? Like, do you know if they're made by Wilton or what? I'm going to have to order online. I found the big ones already, but I'm super interested in the smaller round ones you have. (Also, this is annoying because I live in a huge metropolitan area.)

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  30. Oh Grace...that is frustrating. The round snowflake molds are actually soap molds. I found them locally at Ruhl Bee Supply in Oregon.

    http://www.ruhlbeesupply.com/

    The other snowflake molds I found at Michael's craft store near the cake molds. I don't see them listed online - but there were at an end cap in my store for about $2.00.

    I hope that helps.

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  31. Wow! Love these! The dragon fly ones are my absolute favorite!

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  32. They are beautiful! I love the snow flakes!

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