How do I let myself get involved in these things?

Just a quick update on some of the things I have managed to get myself involved in.

Propolis

At my first ever market someone asked me about Propolis tincture. I said I would look into it but shortly after that the market closed and I didn't see her again.
After a couple of recent discussions about it I decided to make some. I scraped enough propolis from the hives and to make the tincture it had to be dissolved in very strong alcohol [ minimum 70%+ABV]. I eventually managed to get some from abroad and added the propolis to the alcohol. For the next two weeks the jar was shaken 2-3 times a day.
30ml dropper bottles were purchased and labels made and finally the gloopy liquid was drained through coffee filters to make rather a nice reddish brown liquid.

I have done some leaflets about Propolis which can be found  here
I will bring it along with me to the Forest Centre on the 19th.

Mead

Another request. After speaking to someone at the last Forest Centre market, I agreed to have a go at making some.
Mead is basically honey, water and yeast but there are numerous variations.
Spoke to Happy Brewer in Bedford and finally decided to try two types, Orange Vanilla Cinnamon metheglen and raspberry. It seems mead can take a long time to produce but these can be done in a couple of months.
If you're reading this Paul, be afraid, Be very afraid.

Last year I made some cider from windfalls from the garden and I think I will use it to make an apple mead [Cyzer]. However it probably wouldn't be ready for Christmas.

You can download a leaflet on mead from here

Candles

A few weeks ago at Sandy market I met someone who had a friend that loved the Minions. She liked the candles I did and asked if I could make a Minion candle for her friend.
I soon found out that although here were loads of cake and sweet molds for Minions, I couldn't find anything suitable for candles. After taking advice from a fellow bee keeper who makes lots of different beeswax candles, I decided to make the molds myself. Apparently you take the figure/shape you want and paint it with layers of latex to make the mold and then peel it off the starting shape. You then pour bees wax into the latex mould.
I purchased some MacDonalds Happy Meal Minion toys from eBay and some latex and latex hardener.

The problem with this method is that any unwanted hole or gap on the figure can let the latex seep into the hole so I will have to fill in any gaps with resin before they're painted with latex.

To be continued.......