The Ultimate Guide to Beeswax
Beeswax is one of the most remarkable things to come from a beehive.
Made by honey bees to build the comb inside their hive, beeswax has a natural beauty, a gentle aroma and a remarkable versatility. For us, it is also part of the story of our beekeeping — from the wax created by our bees to the handmade products we make from it.
At Stax Of Wax, we work with beeswax from our Lincolnshire beekeeping wherever possible, recovering suitable wax from our hives and preparing it carefully for use.
This guide takes you through the journey of beeswax — what it is, how bees make it, how we recover and prepare it, and how we turn it into handmade products for your home.
What Is Beeswax?
Beeswax is a natural wax produced by worker honey bees.
Young worker bees have special wax glands on the underside of their abdomen. They produce tiny flakes of wax which are softened and worked by the bees to build the honeycomb inside the hive.
The finished comb provides the bees with somewhere to store honey and pollen and a place to raise their young.
So before beeswax becomes a candle, lip balm or leather conditioner, it has already had an important job inside the hive.
Why Does Beeswax Look Different?
Natural beeswax isn't always the same colour.
Freshly produced wax can be very pale, while wax that has been used within the hive gradually becomes darker. Contact with honey, pollen, propolis and the activity inside the colony all contribute to changes in colour.
This means beeswax can range from pale yellow through to deeper golden shades and beyond.
Its natural variation is one of the things we love about working with it.
Explore our Understanding Beeswax page to find out more
From Hive To Beeswax
Recovering beeswax is part of our beekeeping and honey-processing journey.
When honey is harvested, beeswax cappings can be recovered. Suitable wax from the hive can also be collected and prepared for reuse.
The wax is then rendered, cleaned and filtered before being formed into blocks ready for storage and future use.
Not every piece of old comb is suitable for every purpose, so wax is assessed and prepared appropriately.
You can discover the complete journey in From Hive to Beeswax.
Why Is Beeswax Used For Candles?
Beeswax has been used for candles for centuries, and it remains a beautiful material for candle making today.
Natural beeswax has a warm golden appearance and a gentle characteristic aroma. It also produces candles with their own distinctive appearance and burn.
Because beeswax is a natural material, handmade beeswax candles can have subtle differences in colour, texture and surface finish.
For us, that natural variation is part of the charm.
Natural, Coloured & Scented Beeswax
Not every beeswax candle we make is left in its natural state.
Some of our candles are deliberately made from natural, uncoloured and unscented beeswax, allowing the material itself to take centre stage.
Others are coloured to create a particular design or seasonal appearance.
For selected scented candles, we use essential oils sourced from UK suppliers. Fragrances such as lavender, bergamot and ylang ylang can be combined to create softer, relaxing fragrance blends, while other scents can bring a fresher or more seasonal character.
The natural aroma of beeswax can still be present beneath an added fragrance.
Find out more about Coloured & Scented Beeswax Candles, including why we use colour and how we choose our fragrances.
Looking After Your Beeswax Candle
Like any candle, beeswax candles benefit from being looked after properly.
Simple things such as trimming the wick, keeping the candle away from draughts and allowing the candle to burn appropriately can help you get the best from it.
Beeswax can also develop a natural surface bloom over time. This pale, powdery appearance is a normal characteristic of beeswax rather than something that means the candle has deteriorated.
Our Beeswax Candle Care guide explains how to look after your candles and what to expect as they age.
Beeswax Beyond Candles
Although candles are one of the things we make most often from beeswax, they aren't the only use for this versatile material.
We also use beeswax in some of our handmade products, including leather conditioner wood polish and skincare products.
Beeswax can provide useful properties in these formulations while also connecting them back to the hive.
Our approach is simple: where beeswax is part of a product, we want to understand the material we're working with and use it thoughtfully.
You can explore our individual products to find out more about how beeswax is used in them.
Beeswax From Hive To Home?
For us, beeswax is much more than simply a candle-making ingredient.
It begins with our bees, inside their hives across Lincolnshire.
The bees create wax to build their comb. We recover suitable wax as part of our beekeeping and honey work, clean and prepare it, and then use it in our handmade products.
That journey — from bee, to hive, to beeswax, to handmade product and finally into your home — is what makes working with beeswax so special to us.
It connects the products we make directly back to the bees and the landscape they work in.
Explore Our Beeswax Guide
We've created this guide to help you understand both the material itself and what we do with it.
Understanding Beeswax
Discover how bees make beeswax, why its colour and aroma vary, and what makes natural beeswax such an interesting material.From Hive to BeeswaxFollow beeswax from its life inside the hive through recovery, cleaning and preparation for use.
Why Choose Beeswax Candles?
Find out what makes beeswax candles different and why we enjoy working with this natural material.
Coloured & Scented Beeswax Candles
Discover why some of our candles are natural while others are coloured or scented with carefully selected essential oils.
Beeswax Candle Care
Learn how to care for your beeswax candles, including wick trimming, burning and natural beeswax bloom.
Want to explore more about Beeswax?
Dive deeper into our articles on our Blog Page
Frequently asked questions
From Our Hives to Your Home
Beeswax starts its journey with the bees. For us, being able to follow that journey from our hives in Lincolnshire through to a handmade product in someone's home is one of the most rewarding parts of what we do. Whether it becomes a simple natural beeswax candle, a colourful seasonal design, or one of our other handmade products, every piece of beeswax has a story that begins in the hive.
Discover our handmade beeswax candles, from everyday tealights and pillars to countryside, bee and hive, and modern decorative designs.
continue exploring the guide above to discover more about this remarkable material.
Interested in the other side of the hive?
Beeswax and honey are closely connected, both beginning with the work of our bees.
Explore our Ultimate Honey Guide to follow the journey from forage to honey, learn how honey is harvested and discover more about the honey in our jars.