The First Candle Molds
The first use of molds for candlemaking of which we are aware was in fifteenth century, in Paris, which was a center of wax chandlering at the time. In fact, the Parisian wax chandlers were the first to form their own guild.
However, these wooden candle molds could only be used to make tallow candles. Beeswax, when melted, is very sticky, and it couldn't be got out of the molds. Therefore, beeswax candles, made only for churches and the homes of the rich, continued to be made totally by hand. This labor-intensive process added much to the already expensive raw material. Even today, beeswax candles are expensive to purchase, which is a good reason to make your own!
Candle-molding machinery has been improved since it was developed in the nineteenth century. Rows of molds in a metal tank are alternately heated and cooled. After the molds are cooled, the candles are ejected by pistons. Spools of wicking material from the bottom of the machine are threaded through the pistons, by which they are inserted into the candle molds. As the cooled candles come out of the machine, the wicks are trimmed to proper length. Voilà!
