Category: Candle Making

The Mud is Gone!

The mud has gone from all parts of the yard. Some patches had to be buried to vanish them, but after I did that with the tractor, I let things sit a couple of days and then gave it a go in the garden with the tiller. I was able to till without striking mud or sinking down too mauch anywhere. This morning I tilled the whole garden space again with the back flap on the tiller dropped all the way down, and it levelled the garden pretty good!

We had a gopher digging back in the orchard next to an apple tree. Yesterday I dug down and found the opening to his den and stuffed a pipe into that. Then I closed everything off again around the pipe and stuck the other end of it into the tractor exhaust pipe. I let that run till it was too hot to hold anymore, and then shut it off, pulled the pipe, and sealed the den. No more fresh tailings in front of the den this morning. I suppose that instead of eating the tree’s roots, the tree is going to be fertilized off the gopher.

I worked in the shop a bit today. The workbench by the south wall is finished for the time being. I only need to get a couple of fixtures and some bulbs to put some lights above it. I am happy with how it came out. I am happy that I got it pretty much the same height of the main workbench across from it, so i can span larger items from one to the other. I do need to get some electric power to it. I’ll be setting up my beeswax melters over there, and an oven to reseason my cast iron, too. That will get the stench of that chore out of the house, and make it easier if I find myself stripping old seasoning off the iron first.

I just have a lot of stuff that could use a home out of the workspace.

Missus is setting up to run an at home business with quite a few possible products. We have got a 60 inch loom set up now, and there are a lot of thigns she wants to make on that. We also have a potter’s wheel and a kiln set up, ready to start throwing. We both have lathes, and plenty of other tools for making all manner of things. I still need to get the sawmill set up. But that will come soon. It is getting time to get firewood going, and some wood to saw. It is also getting time to get the llamas shorn. We have busy days ahead of us!

The kids are finished up with their homeschooling. They will both be going to public school in the autumn. One is accepted to the school we wanted, and we are still waiting for a reply for the other.

This summer brings a whole change of pace for us here on the farm. It ought to be an advanture! With us both trying to earn here at home, nothing will be the same again.

Candle Making & Etc…

I have one of the crock pots full of wax and heating on the stovetop right now. The candle molds are waiting next to it. I have the wick out and ready to be cut then primed. My ten-year-old is doing her schoolwork, then she will be joining me to learn how to mold the candles for use. It is a part of her Homestead Economics class lesson. When these are done, we have the option of selling them, or using them ourselves. It is the using them ourselves that has me tempted to get some lovely bright candle lanterns from Townsends. Getting enough of them to be really useful would be expensive. But I would like them that much, and that is a thing.

& Etc…

I have not yet received any shipping confirmation on the sawmill. I still have not had any buyer’s remorse, either. I need to figure out where to put it, and I am working on ideas for that. If nothing else, I can put it on the other side of the street and have all the room I need to work all I want. I think if I had ordered an industrial mill, I would. But as a hobby mill, I think I would be more content with it on this side of the street, where I can use it with a bit more ease, and less of the officialness of leaving for work, as I would feel I would do if I were to cross the road.

A lot of my concern is the workflow of the mill. There will be logs to go in, lumber to come out, and off-cuts and sawdust to manage. I would prefer to use the tractor rather than a log deck to load the mill with. I want to stack the lumber straight into stickers, and onto bolsters. I think I have the flow worked out, and the position of things in relation to the mill itself. I guess I’ll have to go out with a measuring tape and confirm my ideas.

& More…

It snowed last night. WE got maybe 2 and 1/2 inches of it! Things were looking like they would clear up, and suddenly we are back under it again. Despite that, it was not a cold night. I burned wood, but not a lot of it. The temperature out right now is 36F. It feels fairly nice. That should tell all about the winter we had, when I was outside a bit ago in a short sleeve T-shirt and feeling quite nice.

According to the forecast, we are in a similar, though gradually cooling state till Monday. After that, the weather will come back up again to what it has been over the last week or so. It looks like we are on track for plenty of spring snow. I have no complaints about that. The more water that gets relocated to our area, the better things like hay prices ought to be. Really, everything else, too.

& A Little More

So, what’s the point of the mill? Part of it is living independently. It’s about being able to make whatever we need here on the farm rather than having to buy everything online. My arthritis is too bad to let me build a saw pit and saw lumber with a big old hand saw, but I can buy a mill, and saw trees down to boards and cants and posts, and whatever else I want. The wood species are a bit limited around here, but since I started splitting my own firewood, I have never run into having none of any kind. I have often had access to rather large logs and even whole trees. So why wouldn’t I want to take advantage of that? Furthermore, there are a few things that Missus wants that I am better off trying to build myself than looking for to buy. A single weaving loom of a certain size would cost as much as the mill did. A few smaller ones would certainly pay for it, too. So why not build it and make several and she can sell some? I also would be happy to operate as a neighborhood mill, making lumber for folks close by who need it. Small neighborhood operations are how the world once worked, and what we want it to come back to. We are trying to get to that.

18th Century Beeswax Candles

Over the past few weeks I bought a candle mold from Townsends, on of my favorite online shops. I used some beeswax I bought before, and some wick we had in the candle making box, and made some candles when the mold arrived. Quite happy with the results, and aware of the size of the candles, I then turned a stand on the lathe from a piece of firewood. Again, I was thrilled with the results. I had a period-like piece that I could proudly display. Better yet, I could burn it with the satisfaction of knowing that I could recycle the wax, and I could make more candles.

That whole process was fairly simple and straight forward to me. I showed it to Missus, and she thinks I should try selling them on Etsy. Only seems logical. I might as well make some more for practice on the lathe and sell the results after I have a supply of sundries to keep me happy.

This weekend I ordered 25 pounds of beeswax, and two molds for short colonial candles, again from Townsends. I may get one more tall mold, if I need it, or if I worry about the one I have breaking and putting me out of business for a few days. I got some firewood on Friday, and hopefully have a couple of pieces I can work with in the next few evenings when I want to pass the time away.

So, with that, I can explore some online selling to help support the farm or my woodworking habits or whatnot. There’s no harm in trying, and certainly no harm in seeing what comes of it! Missus provided me an old crockpot to warm the wax in, and I have a space out in the shop to work happily in. I have got to pile on the firewood this spring, and while I am out, I can find as much wood as possible to turn.

The best bit about turning candle bases is that they are easy, short projects, that give opportunity to try different shapes and yet I have a completed item that is useful, and maybe even sellable when I am done with it. The next best thing is that even if none of them sell, I will have a lot of candles and stands, which I love, and since the candles are all made of beeswax, the house will smell lovely!