BEEKEEPING
&
DEVELOPMENT
37
MAKING CANDLES IN BAMBOO by
Naomi Saville
In Sierra Leone we tried out the bamboo candle moulds described in B&D 14, we used threads hand spun from locally grown cotton as wicks. A section of bamboo with inner diameter about 20 mm was used.
Naomt Saville worked in Sierra Leone during 1994 She is currently in Nepal working on behalf of
Two small slits are cut at each end for holding a very thin splinter of bamboo on to which the wick is tied. The cotton string wick is tied from the bottom piece to the ton where the wick will trude.
A Figure
1
ODA at ICIMOD, Kathmandu.
Pouring beeswax into
the bamboo candle mould
THE SIERRA LEONE GREEN PAWPAW BEESWAX MOULD
& Figure
3.4
wax mould made
This was invented by Mr Abu Ansumana. Take a green pawpaw and hollow out the
from a green
pawpaw (papaya)
centre, removing the seeds. Try to make a smooth and even surface inside the pawpaw. If the mould will not stand on its own, cut the bottom flat, without spoiling the beeswax cup. Pour clean, molten beeswax into the mould and rest it in a cool place for a few hours until the wax has set hard. The mould can be easily split or the wax may just slip out.
The pawpaw mould could be used to make a candle, (use a sufficiently large wick), as described above for bamboo moulds. Otherwise the pawpaw serves as a usefully sized, clean container for making beeswax blocks of convenient size. A Bees for Development publication
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS THIS ARTICLE (except picture of Naomi) NAOMI SAVILLE
A Figure
4. Pouring in the mollen beeswar
THREE
