Our Process

Our candle making process is simple because that’s the way it should be. We are committed to producing our own raw ingredients when possible and/or sourcing them from other local small businesses. While much of the commercialized world today has decided to go the way of outsourcing both labor and material, we at the Ambrosian Candle Co. have decided to bring back the cottage economy by keeping bees and crafting candles ourselves on our homestead to create the highest quality pure beeswax candle on the market.

Working with our hands and with the natural world is something we love doing. It’s easy to get caught up in the demands of the digital world today - so we took a few steps back. We learned the art of beekeeping and candle making over 10 years ago from “old-timers” in the area and have really fallen in love. While the twenty-first century has been all about rapid production, we have turned down the dial. Every single candle we make is made with careful attention to detail, one at a time. 

From Farm To Flame: The Process

  1. First, our 800 colonies of bees are kept throughout Northwest Florida’s natural landscape near wetlands, on Gallberry Flats and in upland Tulip Poplar groves. Our bees are free to roam and collect nectar and pollen year round but most of the beeswax is built in 6-8months every year while the flowers are at peak bloom. At times we also move the bees on our trusty “Bee-Bus” (I.e. flatbed pick-up truck) to niche micro climates where the White Tupelo Gum grows (and produce the world famous Tupelo Honey when the weather cooperates). 

  2. Next as bees bring in nectar, they begin building beeswax on removable frames in our bee boxes. They fill the wax cells with nectar to store for later use or harvest and once the nectar has “ripened” to 17% water via evaporation from thousands of fanning wings they begin capping the combs with wax.

  3. After inspection in seeing the boxes are full and capped, the beekeepers (my son and I) bring the boxes (without the bees) back to our “honey house” where the frames are scraped with a knife and then the honey is spun out in our honey slinger (extractor) using centrifugal force. 

  4. Once the The honey is removed from the frames the slurry of honey and wax travels through a series of baffles that separate the honey from the less dense (floating )wax and then the wax is skimmed off and dried with one last spinner which removes 98% of the remaining honey.

  5. The dry wax is then transferred to a new water jacked container that is heated to 170F and the wax is liquified, filtered and molded into 50lb blocks until later use.   

  6. When pouring or dipping candles, the wax blocks are reheated, melted and strained one last time with a cheese cloth and carefully and slowly poured into custom molds that have been wicked with square braided cotton wicks. The candles are set to cool then removed, wrapped and shipped directly to our customers. Check out our taper beeswax candles here. 

Initially when we started in 2011, we converted our garage in Pensacola, FL into our workshop so that we could work from home as a family and focus on crafting a quality product. Once we outgrew our humble space in town, we moved to the countryside outside of town on 10 acres and built a larger shop on the homestead where we currently live and work. We do everything (with help from local employees) from beekeeping, honey harvesting, wax processing, woodworking, candle making, crafting, packaging in plastic-free material, and shipping our candles to each and every customer who places an order with us. Our manufacturing process isn’t about producing as quickly as possible, but is about a return to a localized economy, a dedication to quality, and true craftsmanship for everything we make.

 

BENEFITS OF BEESWAX

- if I’m paying more, what am I getting? (See this blog for an in-depth explanation)

NATURAL & NON TOXIC

We deal with enough toxicity in our food, water and air, the last thing we need is a toxic, “smell-good” candle masking your home while poisoning the air inside. Beeswax is edible (although I don’t recommend eating candles), natural and made from organic compounds. In addition we strive to follow sustainable practices utilizing natural treatments when possible to reduce mite loads and minimize wax contamination. 

BRIGHTER & LONGER BURN

Hands down, beeswax burns brighter, hotter  because the density of beeswax is 0.97 g/ml compared to Soy 0.90 g/ml , paraffin 0.88 g/ml. When burning 100g of wax, soy lasts 18 hrs, paraffin lasts 15 hours and beeswax will last nearly 100% longer at 29 hrs. Simply put, beeswax will out run its modern day counterparts both in longevity and luminescence - don’t be left in the dark! 

CLEANSING

Beeswax purifies the air by producing negative ions that don't cover up odors but actually clean your air of odors, pollens, smoke, dust, dust mites, and other allergens and hazards. This is the ONLY wax with this magic happens with! Even after cooking up that tasty Fish Friday Feast - beeswax candles can save the day by removing foul odor from the air.

LOCAL

Unlike paraffin or soy  candles, beeswax literally has the smallest carbon foot print of all candles in North America. Beeswax can be made locally, processed locally and used locally - all without crossing the pond or needing elaborate industrialized processing. Did we mention they also burn cleaner and produce less carbon? 

MADE BY VIRGINS

All but one of the 80,000 bees in each hive are virgins. When these virginal female workers consume nectar it stimulates their wax glands on their abdomen and they begin producing beeswax flakes. They then chew and mold these wax flakes into perfect hexagonal cells to store either honey, pollen (bee bread) or the next generation of bees. So basically 64 Million virgins run the show around here! 

Why is this a benefit? Well, when thinking with the mind of the Church, virginity has always been held in high regard when offered up for the Kingdom of God (I.e. Priesthood or Religious Life) - it is the higher calling, as it’s a reminder that all souls in Heaven are virginal and will not be married nor given in marriage, but rather enjoy the beatific vision in union with Our Lord for all Eternity. With this in mind, the Church requires candles on the altar to be made with a majority of (51%) beeswax as a symbolic reminder to the Faithful. Historically the candles were entirely beeswax, but in the 1860s concessions were made for paraffin blends (booo!) - however for any old world souls who want only 100% pure beeswax for your parish or Ecclesia Domestica - you’re in the right spot, that’s all we do!