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PHOTOS: Making beeswax candles at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem
All dressed up and ready to adorn candlelight services all over the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
Harry Tachovsky holds a 1-lb. brick of yellow beeswax in the basement candle-making space at Central Moravian Church business office on Dec. 5, 2023. (Mariella Miller)
A 1-lb. brick of yellow beeswax. (Mariella Miller)
Beeswax is melted and poured into molds in this room that is part of the basement of Central Moravian Church's business office in Bethlehem. (Mariella Miller)
Pots of melting beeswax simmer on the stove in the candle-making space that makes up part of the basement of Central Moravian Church's business office in Bethlehem. (Mariella Miller)
Yellow beeswax melts in the top of a double boiler. (Mariella Miller)
After they're waxed, volunteers lace the wicks through a holder that will be placed in the top of a mold. (Mariella Miller)
10- and 12-inch tapers are made using tin molds. (Mariella Miller)
Molds for 6-inch yellow beeswax candles: Left, the mold, filled with wax, cools. On the right, wicks have been placed in the mold as it awaits the hot wax. (Mariella Miller)
Each mold makes 12 candles. (Mariella Miller)
After the 6-inch candles come out of the molds, they hang this wooden rack for 24 hours before they're dressed with ribbon. (Mariella Miller)
Wax pieces and partially burned candles are saved and melted down to make new candles. (Mariella Miller)
Aluminum molds for 6-inch candles are stored until volunteers start in on the 2024 supply next September. (Mariella Miller)
Volunteers dress the candles with red "bows" that start by folding pieces of red fire-retardant tissue paper. (Mariella Miller)
The folded tissue paper layers are fringed by machine before volunteers glue them to the 6-inch candles. (Mariella Miller)
The finished effect of a 6-inch beeswax candle with a "bow." (Mariella Miller)
Trays of waiting 6-inch yellow beeswax candles line the storage shelves in the Kleiner Saal (meeting room) at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem. (Mariella Miller)
Holiday orders of 6-inch yellow beeswax candles ready for delivery line the Kleiner Saal (meeting room) at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem. (Mariella Miller)
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