Arts & Crafts

This is NOT yet again a Brexit rant!

Took it slowly today after the night's morning's taxi service.

Over the last couple of days, I have slowly got around to melting down some of my very old bee's frames to recover the wax. They are all very old and very used and contain lots of brood cells that never emerged,  honey, propolis, pollen and other bits and pieces.

This means that the wax one gets is much darker than the almost white "virgin" wax from frames where the bees only ever deposited honey. It tends to have a very typical beehive/house smell and so is not very suitable for cosmetic purposes and for many at least, not for indoor candle use. I am very used to the beehive smell so it doesn't worry me and certainly acceptable for outdoor use.

It's quite a long and above all messy process for which I was badly prepared. One needs equipment that you use solely for the purpose and it's best done outdoors where the cooking smell of the wax and the inevitable splashes don't worry anybody. Pinching kitchen utensils and pots & pans are not recommended if you want peace in your household.

There is more dirt and rubbish that needs to be removed than you would believe. Next time I will be better prepared to filter the gunge and have appropriate receptacles to finally mould the cleaned result. I did pinch two ceramic cake forms (star and double heart) and made a hurried attempt at placing a wick in two garden pots I had acquired at the recycling centre yesterday, to make outdoor candles with the last remaining, not quite so clean, wax which also happened to contain water and resulted in the smaller one showing a crack in the wax. The gauze I used to filter is also covered in a fine wax film and these were screwed up and will be used as firelighters in the winter. As MrB did last year, dipping pine cones in the waxis also an idea for the future.

However learnt a lot through all the mistakes. Next time .......

Also made a batch of "Golden Paste" turmeric/coconut oil which we use for medicinal purposes for us and the animals. Up until now I have always made it in 500g amounts and kept in a jar in the fridge for about two weeks but inevitably at some point, it gets wasted as one keeps taking out teaspoon-size portions and perhaps the spoon isn't too clean or the pot gets left out ...... I had seen that many of the Golden Paste community froze the paste in silicon coffee bean moulds, the type used for chocolate sweets, and could then easily take a "pill" from the freezer as required.

Thought I would try this and ordered from that online shop from the South American Jungle area, 4 such silicon moulds, each costing €1.58 including P&P!  I thought they may come from the UK as the "shop" name was "ChenYao Swansea" but in fact, they eventually arrived, exactly as promised, three weeks later from China with all the customs paperwork on the outside of the plastic envelope. I suspect "Swansea" is another of those tax matters used in such dealings and no doubt all those based in the UK will now have to register a new EU base to be able to supply to the Continent. They looked great and €6.32 for 4 moulds, unbelievable.

Today I put them to the test and it was a piece of cake. I am sure I can perfect my technique for filling the moulds and should have used a long palette knife to scrape them clean before freezing. Next time..........

Just for interest also show the prints that were in the photo frames I acquired for free on Saturday at the recycling yard and mentioned yesterday. In the frames they look perfect, outside you see the old sellotape and see that they were cut out from various journals. I almost like them so much that I'm not yet sure that I will throw them away. They clearly don't have any monetary value and I can't say that I have any real connection to the scenes depicted, the nearest one being the print of Middleton Dale in Derbyshire but...... 

Next time .....  I go to the recycling yard I will see if they have some other frames.

And I have scrubbed the Brexit mention ..... sorry an oversight. And next time ..... I will use a farthing, halfpenny (I won't show pronunciation for my German friends as it's too complicated), threepence (as before), shilling, florin etc to indicate the size of the coffee beans. Promise.