I have been doing the candle thing from wax for several years and can
suggest several points to assist others.
1.      First wax from cappings is of better quality than wax from old
frames or from scrapings.  I separate the cappings wax from other types.
2.      If you get propolis (bee Glue in any wax it will give the wax a
gray/brown color and also make the cool wax less brittle.  It will stick to
candle molds and give an off odor when burning candles.
3.      I rinse my capping to remove the honey.  I then melt the
wax/slumgum (of cleaner hive scrappings) in a large pot of water over a gas
stove.  After the whole thing cools and the wax/water solution separate I
re-melt the semi-clean wax in a pot of clean water.  After the wax is
molten, it floats, and I use a ladle to scoop the wax from the surface and
pouring it into a strainer with old sweat shirt material.  I pour into
aluminum pie pans or old casserole dishes until, all the wax is removed
from the top of the water.  There will be some water removed and the wax
and water will sepatarate in the pie pan.
4.      This wax is very clean and butter yellow (store bought butter color
not real home made for those who have not seen the real thing but only the
color enhanced product of marketing).
5.      Separating out the grey/brown waxes.  I either sun bleach some,
pour the butter yellow (a local favorite), or dye the greyer wax red or
green for Christmas in my candles.
 
        The more times the wax is melted the more volitile chemicals are
removed and the less odor of bee hive remains.  These are my own
observations and your mileage may vary.      Mike
 
PS  Do you know the reason that near the sports arena there are
"bleachers"?  That was the area where the bee keepers used to sun bleach
their wax.
 
>>        I've been rendering some of my bees wax lately, and making
>>candles, lip balm etc.  Some of the wax is nice and light colored while
>>some is really fairly dark i.e. dirt colored. I use Hydrogen Peroxide to
>>help purify and settle some of the contaminates.  This works well but
>>doesn't really bleach it...like the color of cappings during a strong
>>flow.  Does any one know of a good home remedy to bleach bees wax?
>>
>>                                Ann
>
>In my first attempt to render cappings last year I used boiling water.
>This left me with brown wax and a nearly imposible cleanup job.  The brown
>wax also lost that wonderfull beeswax arroma.
>
>This year I'm using a solar melter to render the cappings.   The cappings
>were washed in cold water to remove the honey.  About 3/4ths of the
>cappings broke up into individual wax scales which were separated from the
>wash with a 1/6 inch nylon mesh. (1/4 inch mesh may be preferable)   The
>non-cap wax including burr comb and chewed wax was left in larger pieces
>that didn't pass through ther mesh.  I drained and air dried the scales and
>loaded them in the top of the solar melter.  The sugars and contaminates
>still attached to the wax carmelized and stuck in the top of the melter
>while the clear wax flowed off.  The wax still has it's natural yellow
>color and arroma.
>
>
>        -- Dan Oetting <[log in to unmask]>