One last inspiration of 2011

I always have the best of inspirations. I see great ideas on other blogs, or simply dream up a craft on my own (I'm often creating even in my sleep! lol) and I'm even good about getting the materials to make them happen.... but the follow thru just isn't there. I really do mean to but somehow the days just get away from me and unfortunately there are many crafts in our closets that are still waiting to come to life!

Making candles has been on my list for so long, I don't even remember how long! I was so excited to find an older gentleman at our church who raises bees so that I could purchase local bees wax!! I love the idea of taking something ugly and "worthless" and turning it into something beautiful and useful! :) But again... the days just slip away from me and this blob of beeswax has been taunting me from the pantry for months now! So, just two days before the new year, when nothing else about my day seemed to be going right I decided to drop everything and make those darned candles! No more putting it off till the perfect time for a learning opportunity, no more casting it off till tomorrow.....and one less unfinished project was going into the new year! :)

We started off with  this blog of beeswax that had to be cleaned and cut into smaller pieces...

 

Then we melted it in a coffe can placed in a big pot of simmering water, and began dipping the wick into the wax. It didn't go an easily as I had envisioned... and then I realized that the wax just wasn't sticking to the wick so we got out an old jar and filled it with ice water. We alternated dipping it in the wax and then into the ice water and after just a few dips the wax started to build up and the candle started to take shape!!

 When all was said and done, we had made 4 beeswax candles!! These candles were far from "pretty" but I think for a first try they were pretty good! I'm sure there is a right way to make them and I'm sure we were not doing it by any rules of candle making so the fact that they turned out at all is a small miracle! lol The girls were so excited to eat dinner by candle light and it really opened the door for so much nice conversation. The girls love learning about pioneers and pretty much anything having to do with them so it was really fun to have started with such a raw resource as the beeswax and followed it all full circle into a useful item in the house. 

I know as adults it probably seems silly to sit in the dark with two little candles eating dinner but there is something calm and enjoyable about taking away all the distractions and just focusing on the food in front of us and the people closest to us. While we won't be eating every meal in the dark, we will definitely be doing this more often. I think it makes for such a nice meal time experience and something I hope my girls will grow up treasuring as much as I do! 

I've joined in on these great parties!