When the modeling beeswax is completely cool, you can store it in its cupcake liner. To play with it, peel it away from the liner, admire how delicious it looks–like a colored Reese’s Cup!–and hold it in your hands to warm it up.
Warming up the beeswax so that it’s supple enough to mold takes several minutes. My girls don’t have the patience to warm up a whole piece by themselves, and anyway it would just take them longer in their tiny little hands, so I warm their modeling beeswax for them, then give it to them when it’s almost ready, so that they only have to do a little work before they can begin to play.
The last time that we all played with modeling beeswax, out in the sunshine in front of my Papa’s house, Willow and I made this red and blue dragon, and Willow crowned it with flowers and enthroned it on a tree stump. What will you make?
Hi, Thank you for this easy recipe, I’d like to know if it is air dry or not. Thanks
Modeling beeswax relies on warmth to make it malleable. When you stop touching it with your warm hands, it will firm up and remain as firm as any other clay without drying out. If you rewarm it, however, perhaps by soaking it in a bowl of warm water, it will regain its malleability, allowing you to re-use it.
Thanks for the tutorial. I’ve been seeing the beeswax clay, but everyone seemed to be using stockmar. We have our own bees, so ‘naturally’ I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making some.
I do like Stockmar modeling beeswax, too, but yeah–if I can make something myself, then I DO!
Hi,
I just wanted to pop in and thank you for the wonderful tips! I’ve been trying to make my own beeswax-based clay and it wouldn’t stick together. Finally it dawned on me to use lanolin- but I didn’t know about mixing in oil and lanolin together at the same time. I’m curious, what purpose does the oil serve? I know that it makes the clay softer, but in the case of petroleum-based clay, it will cause the powder to separate from the wax if you add too much.
Great tutorial, keep ‘em coming!
-Don C.
Mind you, I haven’t done a ton of experimentation, because once I hit upon my recipe I stuck with it, but I’m under the impression that the oil helps make the beeswax more malleable. The lanolin does, too, but lanolin itself is still quite thick, and sticky. I’ve never had a problem with adding too much oil to modeling beeswax, but I have added too much oil to a flour play dough recipe that I was experimenting with once, and the oil DID separate out–gross!
Thank You so much for sharing this, I have been thinking about this for a long time, my kids go to a waldorf school and I like modeling beeswax so much better than clay, but you are right it’s so expensive so I really look forward to trying this…