A Background On Candle Making Wax And Candles Throughout The Centuries

By Jeff Beckwith

The fascinating history of candle making wax and candles themselves speaks to the utter success of this form of lighting through pretty much 99% of human civilization. Candle making itself seems to have been a technology that sprung up simultaneously on many different continents and many different countries throughout history, with candles possibly being as old as 5000 years.

The first civilization to take one of the most common candle waxes -- beeswax -- was the Egyptians. The Chinese of a dynasty known as the Qin, and which lived over 2200 years ago, took fat from whales and used it in the making of candles, while early Japanese people collected insects and seeds and rolled them all together into paper which was then lit and used as a form of candle.

At the same time, over in India, wax for candles was obtained from the boiling of cinnamon and then shaped for use in temples. Around the first century CE, certain peoples up in the Pacific Northwest took oil that was obtained from the candlefish or eulachon and fused it for use as a wax in a rudimentary candle. Excavations in the Italian city of Pompeii, buried by ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, reveal several versions of candles in common use at the time.

Throughout much of the history of the candle and the wax that comprises it, it was the bee that provided much of the material for its production. In fact, beeswax is still in wide use as a quality wax in candles that are natural or organic in nature. Nowadays, the term "beeswax" is applied to any wax that has properties similar to the real thing.

There are numerous types of candle making wax it can be put to good use. Some involve taking the secretions from plants or animals while others are created through the use of purified petroleum. The other most common type of wax is what is known as paraffin. This, too, is also a wax derived from petroleum processing and is of the same class of naturally-occurring waxes.

One of the more interesting highlights about wax used in candle making is that it's been around since antiquity in one form or another. It has also been used by many civilizations to create casts which were used to craft fine gold and silver jewelry and other objects by many of these civilizations. Over in this country, another substance used to make candles was tallow, a hard animal fat excellent for such usage.

In this country, the second patent ever issued was for a new way of producing candles along with the candle making wax used in the production. This occurred back in 1790, and by'34 a new patent had been issued for an industrialized method that could turn out over 1500 candles per hour. Nowadays, candle making is considered more of a craft rather than anything else, which wasn't always the case in the past. - 33381

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