PDA

View Full Version : What do I add to beeswax to make it look like this.















JDarvall
28th October 2011, 05:30 PM
Like in the picture on the right. The photo hasn't captured it but its got a good amber depth to it I felt. More transparent than just beeswax and linseed oil on the left.

I've asked a similar question before I'm sorry, but still haven't been able to recreate it.

And its nagging me a bit and gotta work it out, because I love the finish it produces and have run out.

Got it from a carboot markets of all places. Rusty tin with no ID because the label had fallen off. Black rust debri found its way into the side of the wax. Bits of it dried out.

I know I can add pigments to beeswax, but from my basic experiments all I end up with is strong paint colours with no depth.

I want it to look like amber resin. Like you get seeping out of trees. deep amber colour as transparent as possible.

Is there a way of making wax more transparent ? ...or is this something that comes about with time. Just aged ?

thanks

ubeaut
31st October 2011, 06:39 AM
Get some uncleaned beeswax from an apiarist malt and filter out honey and dead bodies etc mix it with a little turpentine and leave in a rusty tin for many many years preferably with the lid ajar.

Think I said this before but if it's really old it's possible it had potassium bichromate added to it for colour this gave it the deep amber colour. However it is also carcinogenic and why it is no longer used in waxes,

It could also have been coloured by using old, dark raw linseed oil instead of turps.

It;s also possible that it's darkened by mother nature just through and a bit of good old fashioned aging, as beeswas will darken with age and exposure to air and rusty tins, etc

JDarvall
31st October 2011, 08:08 AM
Thanks Neil.

spose I want to get my head around why its so clear ? Hoping it could be just an ingredient or two.

Dark raw linseed oil.......<- guess they don't make that anymore ?