Second Try for the Wax Block to Succeed

I bought a Presto Pot converted to be a wax melter from EBay. You can see the spigot that has been added to allow the melted wax to flow easily out of the pot. I looked forward to melting wax without the double boiler. I set up the measuring cup below with a new stocking stretched over the top. The plan was to melt the wax, open the spigot, filter the wax through the stocking and then pour into the mold.

However, for some unknown reason, when I turned the spigot to "On" nothing happened. I shut it off and turned it on again. Still nothing happened. I tried again and then gave up. How disappointing! So I simply poured the wax out of the Presto Pot directly into the mold.

This meant that a large amount of wax came out of the pot into the silicone pan I had purchased at Target. See the dark spot. That is where the initial pour hit the pan and made in the end a concave spot on the top of the wax.

I got up this morning and took the wax out of the mold and sure enough, there was a dip in the area where the dark circle is. So today I decided to give the Presto pot yet another chance. While the wax was melting, I took a chopstick and stuck it into the inside opening of the spigot. Then when I got ready to pour the wax, it came happily out of the spigot, filtered through the stocking and I was able to pour it from the measuring cup into the blue pan quite evenly.

To keep blocks this large from cracking while they cool, it helps according to the Internet, to cool the wax in a hot water bath. So you can see that the silicone pan is sitting in a larger roasting pan full of hot water. Hopefully this block will be pretty enough to enter into my bee club's fall contest.