Since paraffin is a petrol carbon soot, insurance companies are now investigating whether or not to cover the sometimes extensive soot damage from paraffin candles. These toxins can be detrimental, especially to people with asthma, lung or heart disease, or allergies. It emits 11 toxins, two of which are toluene and benzene, documented by the Environmental Protection Agency as known carcinogens. Paraffin, however, also contains petroleum by-products and additives burning it is like burning a tire in your living room. Paraffin emits negative ions, too, though considerably less than beeswax. They attach and the pollutants and allergens are no longer suspended by the positive ions. But because negative and positive ions are opposites, they’re attracted to each other. The reason is that airborne contaminants, such as dust, mold and odors, are kept aloft by positively charged ions. A Japanese study found that negative ions cleanse the air. Beeswax candles are nature’s little air filters because they emit negative ions. Even soy candles require petroleum in their production.īrent and Flower are enthusiastic about the natural benefits of beeswax candles. Beeswax, therefore, is a renewable resource, unlike the petroleum base in common paraffin candles. If the beeswax remains, the bees will leave and find another hive where they can make honey and store it in their newly formed honeycomb. Removing beeswax from the hives is vital for the bees to continue their work there. Now diatomaceous earth, a clay-like substance, is used to filter impurities to the bottom as the wax rises to the top.” “At first we cleaned our own but almost set the house on fire. “Cleaning has improved by leaps and bounds,” Brent says. One beekeeper collects beeswax from smaller beekeepers and cleans the wax. Priests made beeswax candles for rituals and, as demand grew with the secular population, candle guilds were formed.īig Dipper’s beeswax comes primarily from the Northwest. They were sometimes called temple candles and associated with worship. When beeswax candles first became an alternative to tallow candles, they became the preferred candles of nobility and the wealthy. Taxes were paid on large holdings of beeswax, considered a taxable asset in Roman times. It was used as money, pressed into molds, and has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs and sunken ships, still pliable after thousands of years. Beeswax is written into the Bible and Greek mythology. At first Brent ran the business while also having a full-time job, “until I got up the nerve to go out on my own.” He took on a partner, Flower Grosskopf, and now they sell candles from Seattle to the East coast.īeeswax has a long and luminous history bee keeping clearly was much more widespread than it is today. Last year it slowed to a 40 percent increase. In the beginning, while learning how to run a business, growth was phenomenal. From part-time candle making, Big Dipper grew into a facility and warehouse in south Seattle about a year ago. The Big Dipper Wax Works goes through a pallet of beeswax every week, 40 to 60 gallons of liquid wax each day.īrent Roose started making beeswax candles “three garages ago” because it was the only way he could afford the kind of clean candles he valued. Each rectangle is a pound of beeswax, representing the work of one honeybee flying the equivalent of seven to 10 trips around the world, visiting millions of flowers and eating pounds of honey.īees consume eight pounds of honey to make a pound of beeswax. (December 2005) - The pallets are stacked to eye level with rectangles of beeswax casting a warm, golden glow and aroma around the workroom. Beeswax is a renewable resource, unlike the petroleum base in common paraffin candles.
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