Which wick to use

So how does one ensure that the candle flame gets the oxygen it needs? Look at the burn pool. The width of the tunnel created by the burn pool is usually determined with the initial burning of the candle. The burn pool, which is the extent of melted wax, establishes the ultimate diameter of useable wax that the candle will ever use in subsequent burnings.

The solid wax remaining around the outside of the burn pool will help the candle to retain its shape. For this reason, I always tell my customers that beeswax candles are intended to be burned all evening, not just a couple minutes and then extinguished. The combination of proper burning protocol and correct wick size should ensure that the burn pool reaches the desired width.

The blocks above, show the top and bottom of a wax block that I bought. From the top, it looks reasonably clean, but on the bottom, quite a bit of honey can be seen. This block will take some time and work before it can be used. The last part of the candle trio is the beeswax itself. I am not going to go into the rendering process here, since the process is often automated in larger operations.

The wax that Karl renders out is really pretty clean, but since my candle business has outgrown what our hives can produce, I also purchase wax off another beekeeper in the area. His wax varies from relatively clean to blocks with rivers of honey buried inside. For things like candles, especially pillar candles, the residual honey in the wax causes the wax to burn unevenly and to clog the wick.

The best way to get the last of the honey out of the wax is to allow it to clarify in a heated double boiler or wax tank. Admittedly, this task is easier to accomplish with the wax tank than a double boiler, since the wax needs to stay liquid for quite a while until all the honey has settled to the bottom.

I usually let mine settle for a couple days. The best way to tell if it is done is by checking the clarity of the wax. When it is first melted, it has murkiness to it. Other Accessories. Cosmetic Bases Foaming Bath Butter. Soap Safe Fragrances Feminine. Vanillin Free. Basic Shape Molds.

Specialty Shape Molds. How to Make Cosmic Galaxy Soap. How to Make Coffee Scrub Soap. How to Make Hand Soaps. How to Make Foaming Bath Butter. Name Brand Imitations. Other Categories. Soap Making Fragrances Feminine. Fragrance Recipes Spring Fragrance Recipes. Phthalate Free Fragrances. Fragrance Oils FAQ. Soap Making Fragrance Recipes. Choosing a Soy Wax. Paraffin Wax Guidelines. Candle Waxes FAQ. Principles of Candle Wicks Guide to Wicking. Using Multiple Wicks in a Candle.

Candle Wicks FAQ. Liquid Dye Usage. Candle Dyes FAQ. How to Make Container Candles. How to Make Soy Container Candles. How to Make Wax Tarts. Other Step-by-Step Guides. Candle Containers Candle Containers Information. The only way to really know if you have the right wick size is through testing , but you can use this step-by-step guide to get started on the right track.

Most of this guide targets container and pillar candles and your acceptance criteria may vary depending on your intended outcome. The market offers so many different wick types to compliment the variety of waxes, containers, and fragrances. Commercial wicks which you buy from a supplier have a few notable traits that make them good or bad for specific waxes:. The reason these factors matter is each wax has different properties, such as density, melt point, and viscosity whether it flows like water or molasses.

How that wick is built determines how easily, and how much, of the melted wax moves through the wick over time. The candle market is full of different waxes! Everything from vegetable wax, like soy or palm, to traditional wax like paraffin or beeswax.

Wax selection plays one of the largest roles in your wick type because liquid wax as the fuel transports through the wick into the flame. Factors that change the burn behavior, that is fragrance oil, dye, and container, can react negatively to a wick commonly known to be okay for a wax type.

That is to say, if you choose to use CD for NatureWax C-3 soy, it might be okay for some designs but not others. Larger diameter containers, which are unofficially anything larger than 3-inches, typically benefit from multiple wicks in the candle. Regardless of your choice, the diameter plays a key role in your starting wick size s. Most candle makers start with making three candles at once, each with a different size wick to see what happens. It can be a lot of work, but building a safe candle that performs well requires a fair amount of effort.

Multiple wick designs are nuanced, and deserve an entire section — so consider this a rough starting point. This step is by far the easiest part of the process. Once you choose your wick or wicks , finish laying out your candle design on paper. Then just create your three candles, allow them to cure for a proper amount of time , and continue to the burn test. Perhaps the most important part of testing is thoroughness. The best candle makers choose a wick, burn test, then react described later on to make sure the wick is safe and performs well in the candle.

We cover burn test tips in pretty significant detail here. There are many ways to burn test a candle, including but not limited to:. This test follows the procedure outlined in ASTM F , which is commonly accepted in the United States as the industry standard for candle making.

If four hours pass and nothing fails, extinguish and allow to cool back to room temperature before starting another 4-hour test. Also called a stress test, the candle is burned to prove that left unattended, or burned for a long time, is not detrimental to the user. Far less dramatic than the chaos test or standard test, the Normal burn test is exactly what it sounds like… normal. Most of the time, the key suspect is the fragrance oil , which is known to impact the burn tremendously.

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Caution Labels. Other Accessories. Cosmetic Bases Foaming Bath Butter. Soap Safe Fragrances Feminine. Vanillin Free. Basic Shape Molds. Specialty Shape Molds. How to Make Cosmic Galaxy Soap. How to Make Coffee Scrub Soap.

How to Make Hand Soaps. How to Make Foaming Bath Butter. Name Brand Imitations. Other Categories. Soap Making Fragrances Feminine. Fragrance Recipes Spring Fragrance Recipes. Phthalate Free Fragrances.

Fragrance Oils FAQ. Soap Making Fragrance Recipes. Choosing a Soy Wax. Paraffin Wax Guidelines. Candle Waxes FAQ. Principles of Candle Wicks Guide to Wicking.

Using Multiple Wicks in a Candle. Candle Wicks FAQ. Liquid Dye Usage. Candle Dyes FAQ. How to Make Container Candles. How to Make Soy Container Candles. How to Make Wax Tarts. Other Step-by-Step Guides. Candle Containers Candle Containers Information.

Candle Containers FAQ. Candle Molds Candle Molds Information. Candle Molds FAQ. Glossary of Terms.