Today is my dad’s birthday. Happy Birthday dad! We spent the morning cleaning beeswax we collected from spinning honey a few weeks ago. Actually, some of this wax has been sitting for a couple years. You can see we had a lot to chop up, melt down and strain.



This is a picture of beeswax that collects in a warming pot after you shave the honeycomb caps off. The warming pot melts and separates the beeswax from any residual honey.

I loved this piece of wax. It came out all bumpy and smooth. And, it smelled divine. There is nothing like the smell of beeswax with a hint of honey. Yummm.

Dad chopped while I tossed the shaved beeswax into a double boiler. You can see all the bee body bits and dirt. This settles to the bottom and gets strained out. We used old panty hose as a seive. Dad and I talked about the Olympics, beekeeping and chemistry. I really want to make a food grade, artist quality, lightfast/colorfast paint. Today I was trying to figure out how to powder berries so they could be added to beeswax to make encaustic paint.

Look at those beautiful bricks of golden warmth and delight! We cleaned and poured almost 10 lbs of beeswax in three hours. Each time dad turned a brick from the little bread pans, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. It was so warm, like a loving hand on your cheek, and smelled like honey heaven. I can’t wait to start making my own encaustic paints using beeswax from my father’s farm. Thanks, dad, for an unforgettable day!