Handmade Holiday: Bayberry Candles

I'm a procrastinator by nature (not proud), so the holidays always seem to approach very quickly for me. Lofty goals for loads of DIY projects and recipes for blog posts get further and further out of reach as Dec. 25th looms closer and closer ever so quickly. So, I hope I posted this in time for you all to use this holiday.

Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) is a common shrub in New England and Nantucket seems to be loaded with it. Its leaves and berries have a pleasing wintry fragrance and the waxy berries have been used for centuries to extract candle wax. The wax has a beautiful natural olive green hue.

A few weeks back Iley and I set out to the woods to collect as many bayberries as we could, mama doing most (all) of the collecting. Papa found us in the woods as he was riding his bike through and stopped to help. Thing is, you need a lot of bayberries to extract a usable amount of wax. I only got 6 oz. of wax out of my 12 pounds of berries. That's a lot of picking, but all in the name of handmade with love gifts for my favorite peeps.

There are other types of Myrica species that can be used to make wax if this northern variety doesn't grow where you are. I suggest a quick google search to see if there are any native varieties growing in your neck of the woods.

I, unfortunately, did not get to photograph every step, since I did some of this at night. The basic breakdown is, pick lots of bayberries, boil them in water, filter it through cheesecloth, allow the mixture to cool so the bayberry wax separates and hardens. Then melt it with some beeswax to make taper candles. If you've ever made your own tapers before the process for dipping is the same.

Stay tuned for some holiday treats recipes that double as easy handmade gifts, and also a super-power vegan nog (yup, it's that good and good for you!). Subscribe to the blog so you don't ever miss a post!

Detailed how-to after the photos...

filtered bayberry wax removed from water once cool wax separates and rises to the top supplement bayberry wax with beeswax to increase supply

DIY Bayberry Candles

You'll Need

• bayberries (12-16 lbs to get 6-8 oz. of wax)
• beeswax
• water
• cotton wick or hemp cord
• large pot
• large heatproof bowl
• cheesecloth for filtering wax
• heatproof container for melting wax such as a tin can
• second tin can
• skewers or chopsticks

Remove the bulk of leaves and twigs from your foraged bayberries. Add bayberries to the pot and cover with water by 2". Bring to a boil and simmer at a low rolling boil for about 20-30 minutes. Line a bowl or another pot with a couple of layers of cheesecloth. Pour boiled bayberries into the cheesecloth-lined bowl to filter out the berries, leaves and twigs. Then remove the cheesecloth from the bowl. You can reboil the berries in more water to extract more wax from them and then repeat the filtering process. Allow the liquid to cool (I let it sit overnight outside) and the wax will rise to the top of the water and harden. You can now easily remove the solid wax from the water.

Weigh your bayberry wax and then add an equal amount or up to 1.5 times more beeswax to it. Melt bayberry and beeswax in a candle-making pitcher or a tin can set in a boiling water bath. Cut the wick to a few inches over the doubled length of the desired length of taper candle you want. So if you want 4" long candles cut the wick to 10-12" long. Dip wicks into the wax and remove them. Loop wick around the skewer so that the ends hang down evenly.

Tip: hot wax is messy so lay some newsprint or kraft paper down on your work surface before you start to dip your candles.

Holding the skewer, dip the wick into the wax and then lay the skewer across the second tin can opening to allow the wax to drip down and cool. Repeat the process until you have your desired width of candles.

Wrap taper pairs with twine or raffia and add some greenery, or a dried orange slice/cinnamon stick for a festive gift. Or package them into muslin pouches, dyed or stamped as you please. I had some indigo shibori pouches on hand that I dyed a while ago for things just like this. (I love when I do that)

P.S. You can also buy bayberry wax here, in case you can't procure enough bayberries from your surroundings. I found this out after the fact btw (typical).

Happy gifting!