Beeswax - value added (part #2)

[Perry]

I fill up my pour pot with the amount of wax I think I'll need, and while it's melting I ready some silicone molds. These can be bought at many candle supply places, I got mine through Mann Lake.
Use a bit of a mold release spray every now and then to simplify getting the candles out of the molds.


Then , just pour away to your hearts content.
The bee skep candle mold you see runs about $20, but I can sell each skep for $3!!! That's $9 using it once! Three pours and it's more than paid for itself and it will last a very long time if taken care of.


The skies the limit really. I make Christmas ornaments as well that sell for $1.50 and use very little wax.




Have fun! Your bees worked hard to make it, put it to good use. Sell it and buy more bee supplies!  :mrgreen:  :lol:

[blueblood]

Perry, have you tried the wooden wicks yet?  I am wondering how well they would work.

[G3farms]

A wooden wick??? now that is different.

Perry be sure to tell everybody to be extra careful with hot wax also, it sticks and burns.

[Perry]

I can tell you first hand that hot wax hurts, and it don't come off fast either!!

Dave, truthfully I've never even heard of wooden wick! Now you've got my curiosity going and I'm off to google.  :lol:

[Perry]

Hmmmm, just a quick trip through google sites and they only mention using them with paraffin and soy candles. Very interesting though.

[apisbees]

Nice looking candles Remember that the wick to use in bees wax candles is thicker than used in paraffin or soy candles.

[G3farms]

Apis that is very true, we had a member in our club giving away his candles for Christmas presents one year, after lighting the candle it would burn for a few minutes and then go out. I figured it had to do with the wick not being big enough or something. Nice candle but just would not stay lit. Into the solar wax melter it went. :lol:

[Bakersdozen]

Very nice Perry.  I like your display for the wax Christmas ornaments.  $1.50 seems cheap for a  beautiful, handcrafted, natural Christmas ornament with a pleasing scent.   I guess it's what the going rate is for your neighborhood.
It's very interesting, to me, how one's location dictates how much one can charge for their goods.  This year was my first for actually having enough honey to sell.  Concerned about how much I was charging , I talked to two other women at the last beekeeping club's meeting about setting a price on a pound of honey.  We are all located in different counties within the same state.  I live in a suburban location, one lady lives in a smaller community and the third is in a rural area.  There is quite a discrepancy in what the customer is willing to pay.  The rural beekeeper charges the least and says she has to "justify" charging that.  I am able to get the most for a pound of honey and we all are using pint canning jars.

[iddee]

I do hope you realize a pint of honey is 1 1/2 lb., not just a pound.

[Perry]

I charge $6.00 for 500 grams jars of honey. ( 1.1 lb.)
$11.00 for a 1 kilo jar of honey (2.2 Lbs.)

I am at the top for pricing, there are plenty that charge less.
What really gets me is the price of beeswax. I seem to be getting a lot of requests for it as of late. I wish I had a lot more.
If the adage that it takes about the same amount of effort on the bees behalf to produce 8 lbs. of honey as it does to produce 1 lb. of beeswax, we are severely underpricing our beeswax up here!
The going price is around $15.00 a kilo or $7.50 a lb.