Tutorial:: Beeswax Ornaments

This tutorial comes from Ann of Harvest Moon by Hand. It was one of their family advent activities. The results are beautiful and we are so pleased Ann is sharing how to make these charming ornaments.

These beeswax ornaments are made by pouring melted beeswax into ceramic ceramic cookie molds. The mold designs lend themselves well to the ornaments, and in the window, the sunlight reveals the pattern. It takes about a pound of wax to make eight ornaments.

The first step was to melt the wax. My daughter, emptied a huge can of black beans and washed out the container. I put the wax into the can and then into a heavy pot with a few inches of water.

The next step, once the wax was melted, was to pour it into molds. Initially, we poured the wax directly onto the mold. It ended up sticking. One of the ornaments came off easily, but the rest stuck. After getting the wax off, I put some vegetable oil onto the molds. We re-melted the wax and tried again.

This time, there was too much oil and the ornaments looked greasy. Removed all the beeswax and re-melted it. Wiped off some of the oil so there was barely any there.

Third time...re-poured the wax in the molds and put little holes where the ribbon would go through.

The beeswax hardens quite quickly. For the initial ornaments, we made holes with toothpicks through the wax so a ribbon would go through them. For the last batch, I put the ribbon in the back of the hardening wax.

If we had trouble taking any of the ornaments out of the molds, we put them in the freezer for a few minutes. Then they would come out easily.

After drying them for a couple of days at room temperature, I took a paring knife and cleaned up the edges as well as put a ribbon through the holes for hanging them.

My daughter and I enjoyed making these ornaments together, and look forward to making more of them.


Many thanks to Ann for sharing one of her projects for the holidays. Ann's shop, Harvest Moon by Hand is participant in our Christmas in July Sale. Save 10% on everything in her shop by using code EKCIJ10 (products only; not on shipping).

If you love these Beeswax Impressions but aren't up for making them yourself, you can purchase them in her shop here.



Follow Ann's articles and photos about homeschooling; arts and crafts; cooking; nature walks; natural living; needlework; and see what inspires the creation of products available through Harvest Moon by Hand by reading her blog.

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