What is Beeswax?
Beeswax has been used by humans probably as long as honey has been eaten by us. Its uses appear to be endless with different hobbies, crafts and projects all finding a use for this natural substance. As we lunge into autumn, our thoughts turn to inside activities and my work moves from bee experiences to crafting workshops. With the workshops predominantly beeswax focused I thought now would be a good time to talk about what beeswax is.
You may already be familiar with beeswax comb; but how is it made?
When it starts its life, beeswax is an excretion from the honey bee worker (female honey bee), it comes about after a hormone change around two weeks of age when the worker bee produces a liquid wax which hardens when the air hits it, it will appear as flakes from the underneath of the bee’s abdomen which are then moulded by the bees to form the hexagonal cells we recognise as honeycomb. I like to think of this as the natural version of a 3D printer!
Starting it’s life as white, the beeswax will slowly change colour dependant on its use.
So what are the cells used for?
Each wax cell can have a different use dependant on the hive requirements.
During the autumn and winter most of the cells are used for storage of food (honey and some pollen). At the very centre of the nest the cells will be used for brood (eggs, larvae & pupa) - essentially baby bees! When the temperature drops these cells will become largely empty, the stores of food will be consumed and by early spring many of the cells within the hive will be empty.
As spring moves on and turns to summer the cells will be filled more and more by food and brood until they run out of room at which point the beekeeper may give them more space to build more wax cells, or the bees will decide to swarm with the older bees and queen leaving the hive for the young and a fresh new queen.
In a hive there are a few times we may remove beeswax:
Sometimes the bees build wax on frames or in spaces we don’t want them to, this is often called brace comb or burr comb and we can remove it and collect it in a bucket ready to melt down with the rest of the wax at the end of the season. Every few years we may remove some old frames of comb and replace with new frames ready for the bees to fill; this is for hygiene as pathogens can build up in the wax over time so giving them fresh comb can help reduce illness risks.
My favourite wax to clean and melt to use in products, is the wax cappings from a frame of honey.
The bees cap every cell of honey with a lid of wax, essentially creating hundreds of jars of honey on each frame. The purpose of this capping is to stop water ingress which would raise the moisture level of the honey and it could start to ferment and turn to alcohol.
When we remove frames to extract the honey, the cappings must be removed so they are usually sliced off the front of the comb. This wax can then be melted down and cleaned before using. The reason this is a lovely wax to have is it is the most purest and so cleanest (other than being a little dirty from the bee’s feet wandering all over it!)
Beeswax has been used for fishing, sewing, DIY, art and of course for candles, polishes, beauty and cleaning products amongst many other things. More recently using wax, often combined with oil and pine resin, is being used to create wraps that are the eco-friendly alternative to cling film with the added bonus of being antibacterial too! I like to use wax in things for the home; one of my first concoctions was making a polish for wood, then I made one for leather. I also like to make pretty fire lighters with wax, a wick and some pretty natural added extras to make them attractive gifts for those really difficult to buy for! Once you start using beeswax you find a use for it everywhere.
