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- Spermaceti wax was the most durable of the three varieties and was the least likely to soften during the warmer months of the year. Beeswax candles were used in everyday Victorian life, but making them was extremely tedious and time-consuming.
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May 10, 2017 · What kind of candles did the Victorians use? In the earlier years of the Victorian era, three types of candles were popular: tallow, spermaceti and beeswax. The cheapest of the three were the tallow, which were made from animal fat. They smelled badly and burned with a smoky flame, which little by little, produced less and less light.
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With the growth of the whaling industry in the 18th century, spermaceti, an oil that comes from a cavity in the head of the sperm whale, became a widely used substance for candle making. The wax was made by crystallizing the oil, and was the first candle substance to become available in mass quantities.
The types of waxes have extended beyond the tallow and beeswax of our early ancestors to include paraffin, soy, and gel. There is even another type of wax which was discovered by the American colonists and still in use today. It is called Bayberry wax, which is derived from bayberries, naturally!
Sep 6, 2023 · Bayberry wax, sourced from the berries of the bayberry shrub, became a prized material for candle-making in regions such as New England. However, the labour-intensive process of extracting the wax made bayberry candles a luxury item.
Overall, tallow and beeswax were the primary materials used to make candles in the 19th century, with tallow being the more widely-used and affordable option, while beeswax was reserved for more affluent individuals.
In those days, though there was gas in the streets and shops, and wax-candles for the great ones of the earth, those who could not afford such luxuries were compelled to seek their illumination in tallow-candles, which required snuffing - i.e., the removal of their burnt wicks - about every quarter of an hour. "Require no snuffing," was the ...
Feb 15, 2021 · In the Victorian era, the following oils were used in oil lamps: olive oil, rape oil (Brassica napus), colza oil (Brassica arvensis), oil of tobacco seeds and belladonna seeds, oil of plum stones, coconut oil, stearin or “butter of palm”, vegetable wax on leaves and skins of plums and other fruits, myrtle-berry wax, turpentine of fir trees ...
