December: Dippers and whippers

We always like to do something a little different and FUN at our December club meeting and this year was to be no exception!

An evening of candle dipping and cosmetic (whipping) was called for....

Our dippers are very sensible, patient people and under Marysia's watchful supervising eye quickly organised themselves into an orderly procession of dipping....

With every dip the candles got a little bigger..... 

and with every roll between the glass sheets the candles got a little smoother....

and by the end of the evening there were some very proud looking candle owners.....

Meanwhile at the other end of the room ......

There was measuring and weighing of all sorts of yummy ingredients... 

and some interesting conversations over mince pies and seasonal treats whilst we waited for the microwave to oblige us by melting our potions. (note to self: investigate replacement microwave)

soon enough, there were curious little pots of lip balm being poured and cooling...

There was no rest for anyone as the measuring and weighing continued, closely followed by whipping ...

And melted oils and waxes were combined and whipped into shape...

It was all rather more noisy than our friends at the other end of the room, but despite the odd accidental splurge...

We got there in the end and soon had super cute pots of hand cream to compliment the lip balm.

All in all, a good evening was had by all!

November 2013: Gadgets and Gizmos revisited

Back by popular demand! An evening of our favourite gadgets and gizmos to help with different bee keeping tasks...

Some were specially bought like this prongy pokey thingy that is perfectly shaped for cleaning dregs of foundation from frame grooves...

Some were carefully considered adaptations, like this crown board with adapted sides that turn it into an eke one way up and a crown board the other way up!

There was some interesting metal work on show....a frame holder for uncapping and a stirrer for creaming...

But possibly the star of the show ( judging from the way it got passed around the table and examined by the wood working experts) was probably this honey bucket tipper upper...

We were assured it was normally wedged up (to help the last dregs of honey out of the bucket) by some wooden door wedges rather than fingers...but it may be adapted with a large old fashioned bed spring for next year.

Can't wait to see that!