Beeswax candles are best enjoyed when you have a minute to relax. No point in lighting a candle and rushing off and it could be downright dangerous if you forget to extinguish the flame. Whew – this is where I need to say NEVER LEAVE A BURNING CANDLE UNATTENDED.
But if you tend to be a busy person the last thing you want to do is come home and fuss over a candle. I’d like to talk about the beeswax candles I have noticed require the least attention.
If I don’t want to fuss much with candles I want them enclosed. By enclosed I DON’T mean a pillar inside a hurricane candle holder. I mean a beeswax candle designed to fully liquefy and burn inside a vessel. The two that come to mind are tealights and votives.
Tealights most often come in their own cup. I would burn a tealight if I meant to burn a candle for several hours – ideally 4 to 5 hours. Why? Because tealights need to totally liquefy, the wax needs to get very hot to burn. The best idea is to light the tealight and let it burn until it’s all gone! Trust me on this – it is not going to relight properly and burn up all the wax in the cup if there is less than half the wax left. It’s just not! The wax can’t get hot enough to liquefy and be drawn up the wick. Generally the wick on a tealight is self-trimming. This is why I think you will like beeswax tealights if you are busy person – put the tealight in a cup on a surface that will not scorch, light it and let it burn. Don’t move the candle as you may spill wax and be careful not to break the wick off short. If there isn’t enough wick when you light it the wax won’t get hot enough to burn and you will be disappointed when you have beeswax left over in the bottom of your tealight cup when it is finished burning. If the wick is broken off you will also be disappointed in how small the flame is. You can read more about tealights here.
Votives are similar to tealights in the way they burn. They totally liquefy in a glass votive holder. Proper votive holders must fit the votive snuggly. Don’t go sticking them in any old glass jar and expect them to perform. No, it doesn’t work like that. But if you have a proper votive holder your votive will provide you with beautiful light for 15 to 16 hours. If it flickers or smokes you may have to trim the wick a bit. If the wax starts to get low in the cup it’s best to let it burn up. Like a tealight you will be left with too much wax in the bottom if you don’t leave enough for the wick to heat the beeswax to the liquefaction point if you were to relight it. To find out more about burning votives I suggest you read about them here.
One of the bonuses of Honey Candles® beeswax Votives is all the colors! Check them out.
If you just want to burn a beeswax candle for a short time I suggest a candlestick. The candlestick that I believe requires the least attention and burns absolutely beautifully is the Honey Candles® 6 inch Column. Less fuss than a taper and with many of the qualities of a pillar the 6 inch Column is ideal. I wrote an earlier article about what I think is the ideal type of candle holder for a 6 inch Column and how to place it properly on the holder.
I think you will agree after you’ve tried one or all three of these beeswax candles. These are the ones for someone who has a busy life but enjoys candles and wants quality natural products in their life! But remember you can't just walk away - all candles need some maintenance and attention.
Photo by Marlie Marchewka