Welcome To Pilgrims and Pioneers!

After many years of researching my family geneaology I have been lucky enough to discover actual information about my relatives that lived in the Pilgrim Era and the Pioneer Era- while many people also have realtives from those eras- many do not know their names or where they lived- actually seeing the proof in print makes you much more aware of who they really were.
After discovering these relatives it of course made me curious to learn more about the eras that they lived in and what their lives were like as, the history I learned in grade school had long since been forgotten.
I decided to start this blog for others who are also interested in these eras.
Some of the information here will be actual facts about my realtives and some will be information about the eras in general that I have found on the web.
I hope you will enjoy traveling back in time with me!

Monday, March 17, 2008

From Colonial Tallow Candles to Modern day Soy Candles


Back in the days of my colonial and pioneer ancestors making tallow candles was a frequent chore as without electricity candles were used to eat by, read by, quilt and sew by and anything else that required the use of light.
Burning tallow could be a smoky and unpleasant smelling experience- but as tallow was the only product available for candlemaking( I am not sure when beeswax started being used but it had to have been received with great joy!) it was something they had to endure.
Someday I will follow in their footsteps and attempt to make beeswax tapers, nubbies, and lamplighters . Nowdays we burn candles not out of necessity but to enhance our moods, recall fond memories, freshen the air or to add a cozy ambience to our homes. With the invention of soy wax, for now I am happy to follow in their candlemaking footsteps using soy -wax a much cleaner and better alternative to tallow! Soy wax burns clean, and slow with amazing scent throw.
Since I am a pioneer farm girl at heart I pour my candles in square mason canning style jars and make my melting tarts in fluted tins that make them resemble little food type tarts.
More recently I have added a Simpler Tymes line which are poured in farmhouse style panrty jars with black metal lids and the tarts made in a very plain and simple shape resembling little prairie cakes. Although I have poured these tarts in several colors in the near future they will be poured in natural off white or primitive tan.
My candles can be viewed at http://www.pilgrimsandpioneersprimitives.blogspot.com/

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