Yet Another (two) Wax Block(s)

Well, I'm at it again:  The Great Wax Block Saga.

Last night I poured two wax blocks for the Tara Contest and hoped at least one of them would be good this morning.  When I got ready to pour, I pulled out my piece of silk and found that a wax moth or some other creature had feasted on it:

So I resorted to using panty hose - not as good a filter, but hey, it's what I had.

The panty hose is stretched over a measuring cup with a pouring lip that has been heated in a pan of simmering water so the wax won't solidify as it hits the glass.

I cooled one block in the downstairs oven and the other on the counter top.  I heated the oven to its lowest temperature:  170 and then turned it off before putting in the wax.  Inside the oven while it is heating is a roasting pan filled with hot water and the mold for the block:

I poured one round mold and one in a bread pan.   This morning both were good, but the bread pan had striated lines on the edges of the block:

I polished it while I put the round mold in the freezer - it wouldn't come out of the mold and sometimes the freezer for about 30 minutes will do the trick.  As a last resort, I could use this block but I don't want the striations.

Voila!  The round mold came out just lovely:

I can see a couple of specks in it - result of the use of panty hose instead of silk, but it is a gorgeous wax block.  I've packed it up (after polishing and polishing with panty hose) to go to the show tonight as well.

It rides in its own Tupperware container and sits on a linen napkin - throne for a queen, I guess.

Wish me luck and I'll let you know how it goes.

Entries for Tara Honey Show

I belong to a couple of bee clubs.  The Tara Bee Club is having its honey contest tonight.  I have to work until 6:30 and I live 16 miles in going home traffic from the Tara meeting in Forest Park, Georgia.  They are accepting honey entries from 6:45 - 7:15 so I will arrive at best just under the wire.  As a result I had to get everything ready last night so that I only have to take the plastic wrap off of the jars, put on new tops, and hand them to the steward.

Generally to a honey show, I take a leg of panty hose or a piece of silk for polishing, gloves to pick up the jars, a flashlight to look for fingerprints, a squirt jar of water in case something needs cleaning, toothpicks for last minute bubble removal, silver demitasse spoons for equalizing jar fills, and lint free cloths for polishing jars.  I'll probably have all of that with me, but in reality, I won't have time tonight.  So last night I spent hours getting my entries ready for the show.

I poured two wax blocks and crossed my fingers until this morning.

I polished, equalized, and de-bubbled jars (actually only one jar had bubbles).  I put new tops for each jar in plastic Ziplocs.  I put all the finished products in a sectioned box:

So I'm entering (from top of photo to bottom) black jar, creamed honey, light honey, chunk honey (and a wax block - see next post).  You can see the flashlight peeking out of one of the jar lid filled sections and the new tops for the jars in their baggies.  

I only have light honey to enter this year since Jeff and I only really harvested from Five Alive and Stonehurst.  Like last year, the Stonehurst honey has crystallized early - it was kind of medium - so all we have is the light honey from Five Alive.

We'll see if anything places - I've not done great in honey shows this year, but if I say so myself, the creamed honey we are entering into Tara is really fabulous.