Candle Making - A Bit of Incredible Historic Facts For Candle Lovers And Makers
For nearly the whole of recorded history, candles have been the main source of light in northern and central Europe.
Regions that were further south used oil lamps due to the warmer climate in which candles softened and bended making it a second choice for light.
The first choice for europeans were candles instead of oil lamps because a candle consists of a wick surrounded by solid fuel instead of needing a separate container.
In Britain there were no olive trees to provide oil, but plenty of sheep, which ment plenty of mutton tallow.
Until the nineteenth century tallow was the main material used for making candles.
Tallow is animal fat that has been rendered down and partly purified.
Suet that is used in many traditional cooking recipes is very similar to tallow.
Candles made from tallow gave of a unpleasant odour along with greasy smoke, but they were the cheapest and most reliable.
In a demonstration in 1860 the scientist Michael Faraday demonstrated this at a public lecture, when he ignited some tallow candles that had been recovered from the hull of a wrecked ship that has been submerged in sea water for fifty-seven years, the candles burnt steadily when lit.
Other animal products were also used to make candles such as beeswax, spermaceti(from the sperm whale) and vegetable waxes, but in much lesser quantities.
The spermaceti candle weighing about 75g was made the basis of the standard 'candlepower' that is used today to measure the strength of a light source.
In China, wax was obtained from the seeds of the tallow tree and in America, early settlers boiled up the berries of the bayberry bush and extracted the wax from the residue.
The desert shrub jojoba also yields a useful wax, and is used to make 'natural' candles.
In the 1820s the first great improvement in materials came when stearin or stearic acid was developed.
This compound originally produced from refined fat is now refined from palm oil and has a fatty odour.
Stearin is harder than tallow at room temperature and has no sticky or pliable in between phase and produces much less undesirable odour.
During the 1850s, paraffin waxes were first extracted from crude oil.
After the development of the petrol driven engine, paraffin wax was in steady supply due to growth of this vast new industry.
Candle making technology developed much quicker after this and has remained virtually unchanged for about five hundred years.
The earliest candles consisted of a peeled rush dipped into liquid wax or tallow, and then allowed to harden.
Such 'rush dips' were described by the Roman historian Pliny, and will have been familiar to countryfolk throughout northern and central Europe until quite recent times.
In the fifteenth century, apparently in Paris, the first candle mould was was invented, and could only be used for tallow candles, because beeswax could not at the time be cast in reusable moulds.
Beeswax candles, destined for churches and the homes of the rich, continued to be made entirely by hand.
The extra labour involved added to the already high cost of the better quality material.
Before the advent of gas lighting and electricity, the naked flame was a daily necessity if life was to continue after the sun went down.
Two hundred years ago, every town in the country had at least one candle maker or chandler as they were referred to then.
Their trade was tightly regulated by statute to prevent the sale of inferior candles and was subject to a tax on every candle sold.
Not surprisingly, chandlers were often prosecuted, and imprisoned, for tax evasion.
Making candles at home was forbidden by law and the penalties were quite severe.
It is hard to imagine the as it was, when candles were so essential to civilized society that their manufacture and trade were legally controlled.
Today, candle making at home is an enjoyable and relaxing hobby, not essential, but very desirable.
Are you a beginner candle maker or would you like to take up this therapeutic hobby that's also making a lot of folks some extra cash while having fun? Then I invite you to my candle making blog where you can pick up tips and advice or post any question you may have with regards to candle making.
Regions that were further south used oil lamps due to the warmer climate in which candles softened and bended making it a second choice for light.
The first choice for europeans were candles instead of oil lamps because a candle consists of a wick surrounded by solid fuel instead of needing a separate container.
In Britain there were no olive trees to provide oil, but plenty of sheep, which ment plenty of mutton tallow.
Until the nineteenth century tallow was the main material used for making candles.
Tallow is animal fat that has been rendered down and partly purified.
Suet that is used in many traditional cooking recipes is very similar to tallow.
Candles made from tallow gave of a unpleasant odour along with greasy smoke, but they were the cheapest and most reliable.
In a demonstration in 1860 the scientist Michael Faraday demonstrated this at a public lecture, when he ignited some tallow candles that had been recovered from the hull of a wrecked ship that has been submerged in sea water for fifty-seven years, the candles burnt steadily when lit.
Other animal products were also used to make candles such as beeswax, spermaceti(from the sperm whale) and vegetable waxes, but in much lesser quantities.
The spermaceti candle weighing about 75g was made the basis of the standard 'candlepower' that is used today to measure the strength of a light source.
In China, wax was obtained from the seeds of the tallow tree and in America, early settlers boiled up the berries of the bayberry bush and extracted the wax from the residue.
The desert shrub jojoba also yields a useful wax, and is used to make 'natural' candles.
In the 1820s the first great improvement in materials came when stearin or stearic acid was developed.
This compound originally produced from refined fat is now refined from palm oil and has a fatty odour.
Stearin is harder than tallow at room temperature and has no sticky or pliable in between phase and produces much less undesirable odour.
During the 1850s, paraffin waxes were first extracted from crude oil.
After the development of the petrol driven engine, paraffin wax was in steady supply due to growth of this vast new industry.
Candle making technology developed much quicker after this and has remained virtually unchanged for about five hundred years.
The earliest candles consisted of a peeled rush dipped into liquid wax or tallow, and then allowed to harden.
Such 'rush dips' were described by the Roman historian Pliny, and will have been familiar to countryfolk throughout northern and central Europe until quite recent times.
In the fifteenth century, apparently in Paris, the first candle mould was was invented, and could only be used for tallow candles, because beeswax could not at the time be cast in reusable moulds.
Beeswax candles, destined for churches and the homes of the rich, continued to be made entirely by hand.
The extra labour involved added to the already high cost of the better quality material.
Before the advent of gas lighting and electricity, the naked flame was a daily necessity if life was to continue after the sun went down.
Two hundred years ago, every town in the country had at least one candle maker or chandler as they were referred to then.
Their trade was tightly regulated by statute to prevent the sale of inferior candles and was subject to a tax on every candle sold.
Not surprisingly, chandlers were often prosecuted, and imprisoned, for tax evasion.
Making candles at home was forbidden by law and the penalties were quite severe.
It is hard to imagine the as it was, when candles were so essential to civilized society that their manufacture and trade were legally controlled.
Today, candle making at home is an enjoyable and relaxing hobby, not essential, but very desirable.
Are you a beginner candle maker or would you like to take up this therapeutic hobby that's also making a lot of folks some extra cash while having fun? Then I invite you to my candle making blog where you can pick up tips and advice or post any question you may have with regards to candle making.
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