The products of the hive which bind us together with a common love of beekeeping: Honey, Beeswax, and Honeybees.
I make the labels for my jars of honey on a computer by use of the HiJaak drawing program. A master sheet of labels is made on a laser printer then pages of labels are produced on a copy machine. A yellow marker pen gives the bit of color to the labels. The labels are cut out with scissors then pasted on the jars with flour paste
I make flour paste by taking 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour and slowly adding a pint of water while stirring to get a good, smooth mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils for about 3 minutes. After it cools a little, I stir in about 1/4 teaspoon of clove oil as a preservative...makes it smell good too. Rice flour makes a whiter paste which I've used over the years in my bookbinding projects, but for affixing honey labels it makes no difference.
I brush the flour paste out on a sheet of glass, pull the label across the glass to get the paste on the label, press the label on the jar, then blot the label with a damp cloth. Labels that look better and are self-adhesive can be purchased, but I enjoy making my own.
To get clear blocks of wax, I put my wax scraps, or blocks that have trash in them, inside the leg of an old pantyhose. I tie a load up, cut it off the pantyhose, then put the load in the solar melter where it rests on a clean sheet of paper. The melted wax filters through a paper coffee filter...cheapest I can find. I collect the melted wax in a bread pan then pour it into molds if I don't wish it to harden into a big block in the bread pan. The photo shows rectangular blocks which were molded in a commercially available mold (6 blocks). The blocks have the word BEESWAX molded into the surface. The round cakes of beeswax were molded in muffin baking pans which come in small and large sizes. Teflon coated pans work well, but even so I will wipe the pans with a towel that has been sprayed with silicon lubricant just to make sure that I will get a good release.
There are many things that can be done with beeswax:: make candles, compound lotions and polishes, make lost wax castings, batik, decorate eggs with Ukranian art styles, and the list goes on and on.
Here is something **SPECIAL** for the kiddies out there, something that is sure to drive your parents **WILD**!! Get an empty tin can and punch a hole in the center of the bottom using a nail and a rock or hammer. Take a piece of string about a meter long and wax it well with beeswax. Stick the string through the hole in the can and tie it to a small piece of wood...toothpick or something like that. Pull the string back so that the wood rests against the inside of the bottom of the can. Hold the can in one hand then, with thumb and forefinger of the other hand lightly on the string, pull downward at varying speeds. Try short, jerky movements. The loud squawks and chicken clucking sounds are delightful. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT creep into your parent's room, early in the morning and use this "squawk box" as an "alarm clock" to get them awake. They will not appreciate it at all. Can you say "grounded??" I thought you could. :)