White Beeswax

White Beeswax

These prills of white beeswax are derived from natural sources, bee apiaries in North America, and are naturally bleached to a soft, pleasing white color.

Beeswax is used as a protective coating (varnish) in painting, as a paint binder, and as a stabilizer in oil colors. It is usually available in cakes, pastilles, or prills, either bleached white or in its natural yellowish color. It melts between 62–65° C. (144–149° F.) and will dissolve when heated in water, turpentine, mineral spirits, or oil. Beeswax does not oxidize and polymerize, as does drying oil, but rather solidifies as it cools to make a solid mass. It does not darken or change color with age, and it resists the action of atmospheric impurities more than resins or oils. On the other hand, it is more sensitive to temperature changes, becoming soft in heat and brittle in cold. It is also more sensitive to abrasion and rubbing than a dried film of oil or varnish.

White beeswax is the recommended choice for most painting techniques, calling for wax ingredients. Beeswax reduces the glossy quality of oil paints, giving them a more satin finish. It also extends the drying time of paints, making them thicker and more workable for longer periods of time. When making your own oil colors, you may add about 2% white beeswax when grinding colors. The wax helps to give the paint a more buttery consistency and guards against flocculation of the pigment.

Beeswax is used in the encaustic painting technique. The technique itself is straightforward. A pigment is added to molten beeswax and often resin (such as Venice turpentine or damar), which is then applied hot to the painting surface. The surface itself may be warmed, allowing for manipulation of the encaustic paint. It may also be cool, causing the brush stroke to solidify immediately. The final treatment is "burning in," which consists of passing a heat source over the surface and fusing and bonding the painting.

Origin and History

The English term wax is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word wax, which means beeswax. Therefore, a practical definition of wax may be a substance similar in composition and physical properties to beeswax. Technologists use the term for various commercial mineral, marine, plant, and insect products containing various fatty materials.

Beeswax is the oldest known pigment binder. Since ancient Greece, beeswax was first used in painting by heating it over a charcoal pot, hence the term encaustic, literally meaning burning in. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans would melt a mixture of beeswax and often resin over this heat source, blending the ingredients together. Once the wax melted, pigments were introduced into the mixture. The wax color was then painted onto a wooden support using natural hair brushes or heated metal tools.

Source

Glands under the abdomen of bees secrete wax, which they use to construct honeycombs. Beeswax in the honeycomb form is familiar to everyone. When the honey is extracted, a crude yellow wax remains that can be melted and filtered. It contains a high proportion of wax esters (35 to 80%). The hydrocarbon content is highly variable and may be altered somewhat as beekeepers may feed some to bees to improve the yield of honey. This crude wax is a yellowish-brown solid, somewhat brittle when cold but becoming plastic by the heat of the hand. It has an agreeable, honey-like odor. The color varies depending on the impurities collected with the wax during harvest.

The color of yellow wax is bleached by exposing it, with an extended surface, to the combined influence of air, light, and moisture. When yellow beeswax is melted, formed into thin sheets, and exposed to sunlight and air, it becomes white. In a few days, the sheets are partially bleached, but to deprive the wax entirely of color, it is often necessary to repeat the whole process. When sufficiently white, it is melted and cast into cakes, pastilles, or prills. Yellow wax may also be decolorized by treatment with charcoal or potassium permanganate, potassium dichromate, sulfuric acid, and hydrogen peroxide. The bleaching process raises the melting point of the wax. Because it is bleached, white beeswax is the recommended choice for most painting techniques that call for wax ingredients. White beeswax is less unctuous to the touch than yellow; it is soft and ductile at 35° C. (95° F.) and fusible at 65° C. (149° F.), retaining its fluidity at a lower temperature.

Regulatory Status

INCI Name: Cera Alba
CAS Number: 8012-89-3
EINECS Number: 232-383-7
Country of Origin: USA
Beeswax is GRAS listed and approved for end use under regulation 21CFR184.1973.
Natural Pigments beeswax does not contain any preservatives.
Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS): 1521.90.2000 for White Beeswax

Residual Solvents: This beeswax is manufactured without using Class 1, 2, or 3 solvents, and there is no potential for Class 1, 2, or 3 residual solvents to be present in the manufacturing process. There is no potential for any other solvent to be present in our beeswaxes.