Making beeswax candles

A few weeks ago, I bought a beeswax candle making kit at Hobbycraft. It just looked like a fun way to spend an afternoon and I love kits, along with taster or introductory courses, they're the best way to learn a new skill without having to commit to buying a load of new tools and materials. After a few busy weeks, I finally got to play with my kit this weekend.

The kit is by House of Crafts and comes in a handy little box which includes 5 sheets of textured yellow beeswax, a length of cotton wick and a booklet with instructions to make the different candles pictured on the front of the box.



All you need to get started is a few tools most crafters already possess: a sharp knife (stanley knife or scalpel), a pair of scissors, a ruler and a cutting mat. It is also quite important that the beeswax is at room temperature so it is malleable.

The instructions are a bit bland as they don't include any pictures bar a couple of schematics and flower petal patterns. I think as the kit is intended for beginners, it would have been nice to have a few more pics. In my opinion, nothing beats a good visual when trying to teach someone a new craft! Because of this lack of images, the instructions in some places refer you to the picture on the front of the box. All well and good, but the picture of the rose candle is badly cropped on the side of the box... not very helpful!

I started with a tall spiral candle and at first, found it hard to roll the wax tightly around the wick. Being a firm believer in "practice makes perfect" I decided to make a second one straight away and that was enough to get it right. In a couple of hours I'd made 5 candles, all looking pretty decent.

I really like the water lily and rose floating candles. I still have about 1,5 sheets of wax left so I might make a few more of them!

If I was planning to have a Christmas market stall, I'd seriously consider making a load of beeswax candles to sell. They're fun and relaxing to make and they look really nice, I'm pretty confident they'd sell well. An added bonus of making those candles is the gorgeous smell of the beeswax, yummy!

Fun with a bit of wire

One of my dreams, is to one day make and sell my own little line of jewellery. Nothing fancy, no big world domination plan, I just want to get some of my craft out there for people to love and cherish and get a bit of money for it in return. But I am still seeking my muse, my style, my signature, and I still have quite a few techniques to learn in order for me to translate the ideas lodged in my little head into proper pieces of art. This is why I have decided that this year, I would try to learn, study (finances allowing) and practice all sorts of jewellery techniques I come across. If I see something I like, I will try it.

That is how I found myself staring at a magazine at the weekend and thinking "This doesn't look all that complicated... I could probably make it!" So I got my box of beads out, found a piece of memory wire lurking somewhere in there and started threading beads and twisting wire until I'd managed to make this rather colourful creation:

It was astonishingly easy, I only had a couple of false starts. It was also surprisingly quick, I probably made the whole thing in just under 2 hours. If I was to make more of these, I'd probably pick smaller beads and look into using a different wire, I'm pretty sure memory wire isn't made for this, though it worked out well enough in the end!

I love crafts that have something intrinsically organic, a will of their own, a bit of unpredictability. I love starting something with a bit of an idea of what it should look like but give it a bit of room for it to become what it wants to become. This technique certainly fit the bill for me!

So dear reader, what do you think of my wire and bead experiment?

Belgium world champions!

Well that's it, we've done it!

Belgium has earned today the rather dubious title of world champion in government formation (or should that be non formation?). We took the European title back from the Dutch in January and now with 249 days without a government in place after the elections, we have officially robbed the Iraqui's of their record.

I don't know whether to celebrate (well it's not often my country excels at something other than food!) or cry... Belgium's politics are stupidly complicated; we have over 48 ministers, split over 6 different governments to look after just 10 million people. I can't explain its functioning (or not, as the case may be!) in full details here, it's an essay's worth. But trust me when I say, if you think politics in your country are bad, Belgium's politics are like nothing you've seen before.

Up until quite recently, I thought it was all just laughable, as would most of my compatriots. Belgians are used to overly complicated structures and processes - think the 12 Tasks of Asterix when he has to face the "Administration" - so we'd all come to accept our demented political structure as a fait accompli. But this last long string of failed attempts at forming a government is no laughing matter.

First of all, it is a costly affair. Not only have the Belgians been paying a bunch of ministers to do F-all for the past 249 days but also Belgium's interest rates have been put up by worried lenders.

Secondly, there is the daunting prospect that Belgium could well be at breaking point. The last elections have showed a big split between the north - the Flemish voted mostly right, almost extreme right - and the south - the Walloons voted loyally to the left; new elections will not solve that problem. And if Belgium's elected politicians suddenly found it in their heart to make the necessary concessions to form a government, where do we go from here? You see, this is the second time that Belgium struggles to form a government, at the previous elections, it took them six months. And then that government resigned 2 or 3 times during its term! So really, what hope is there for next time? And more worryingly, if Belgium implodes, what does it mean for Europe?

In typical Belgian self-deprecating fashion, I cheer at the idea of our country breaking a world record. But deep down, I know this is a sad, sad, day for my little surreal country.

Welcome to my blog!

Instead of making good resolutions for this year, I have decided to have new year aspirations. One of my main aspirations being to start writing a blog, here we are! 

I kept putting it off under the pretence that I didn't know what to write about, I was convinced I needed a single focus for my blog. But I have so many interests and passions... So I've decided to take the leap and just write about whatever is tickling my mind at the time of posting. 

Whilst I don't want to make any promises, there will no doubt be a lot of creative content on here as one of my main obsessions is crafts. I expect there will be praises for books and movies and a few rants about the state of politics in my rather surreal home country or my country of residence. I'm pagan and make no secret of it so I'll proudly be marking the 8 festivals on the wheel of the year. Hell, you might even get the occasional cooking or communication tip thrown in for good measure! 

I don't know yet what I'll write about or how often I'll post but I promise to do my very best to keep it entertaining. Thank you for joining me on my blogging adventure!