TheNovice

Thanks! Did you have any favorites?

I was looking at The Lone Star Candle Company's Eco wick line and they seem to be suitable for vegetable waxes. We gave the Lab & Co Wooden wicks a shot, but I jut think they're burning a bit too hot for our vessel I believe and aren't facilitating a good throw. Maybe I should look into a different vessel. Any recs for wicks?

Great points, and totally agree. Do you have any recommendations for cotton wicks?

Yes, you raise some very good points. And regarding the wick, completely understood. We're using a booster 0.20x0.20, 3/8" width, 0.20 thickness. It seems to be the appropriate wick.. if you don't mind, I'll PM you some photos I just took of the candle. The candles been in the bathroom for about 45 minutes and the scent is great. It's not a large bathroom tho.. we just put it in our kitchen /dining area to see how it holds up and will report back in another hour, lol. Filling several rooms if the goal.. maybe we need a thicker wick? Maybe 0.30 instead of 0.20?

Definitely don't think it's too quick. It's gets a melt pool in 2-3 hours. I thought that was ideal? Flame is perfect. Not large (no soot), and not a dim flame. It's a strong, normal sized flame for a wooden wick. We originally were over wicked at 1/2" width, but went down to 3/8" and it seemed to definitely help. I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong then, lol. I just put the candle in our bathroom and closed the door.. maybe we're just testing in to large of a space and the candle can't throw in the room? Is that even a thing? I'm out of ideas, haha.

Hi all, Completely new to candle making, but am having a really frustrating time trying to get our Lab & Co. coconut and apricot wax to throw. We're also using their fragrances, which makes this even more frustrating! From where I stand, we've done some pretty solid testing and have made a very nice candle. Wax is being maintained at the correct temperature when adding our fragrance (keeping a load around 8-9%, no sweating is occuring), letting cure a few days.. but when we do our burn test, there just really isn't any noticeable smell unless you're right next to it/over the flame, and it's really dissappointing. We really wanted to learn how to make strong, long-lasting natural candles.. but when we compare the hot throw to other brands such as Bath & Body Works who probably use more soy/parrafen blends, there really is just no comparision. I guess also we're comparing larger 3-wick cotton wick candles to our single, 7oz wooden wick candle, but I'd figure I'd be able to just smell at least something. It's just concerning because our end-goal is to be able to sell our candles, but I don't see how people would actually spend a higher premium on an natural/coconut based candle when the throw just isn't even close to what other candles can provide. Add in the fact that they burn slower so you don't get much scent during a casual, short-term use like most people use, and it makes me question how it's even a viable option. Not to mention, the maintenance on a wooden wick... I have a feeling most customers never trim theirs. Is it just me? Am I just really bad at this, or are my expectations just completely not in line with what a vegetable wax will be able to provide? Our candle appears to be wicked perfectly and has a nice, beautiful flame that has a solid even melt pool in about 2 hours. Less than 1/2" deep. Anyone have any tips?

Are wooden wicks just a fad? Can they offer similar scent throw to other types such as cotton? Assuming they are both properly wicked for the vessel, is there a difference? Or is it more related to the wax, FO load, and proper mixture of the candle?

Hi all! Fiance and I are new to the hobby and had some questions about what our expectations should be for a single, wooden wick 7 oz coconut candle with an average FO load of 9%. We love candles, and have always bought them, but they've always been larger triple-wick candles from places like Bath and Body Works. The scent for these were always pretty strong, but we're wanting to know realistically what we should expect from our own candles assuming we do it right. We've been doing some tests here and there, and have noticed our hot throw is virtually non-existent compared to what we're used to. I know we're comparing apples to oranges to some degree, but we're trying to find a way to make the best candles we can. We've been reading cure time is a big deal, so we're going extend that instead of burning next day and see how that plays out. We feel like on our most recent sample candle we made last night, we did it perfectly.. and now we're just waiting for it to cure so we can give it a shot. Anyone have any experience with coconut/apricot wax (from Wooden Wick/Lab Co) as well as their FO and would want to share?

Hey all! Question for your experts out there: do you guys do a candle test for each new FO you pick up? If the vessel/wick stay the same, how much of this do you feel is necessary? Let's assume we do some testing for each new FO (from the same brand), do you then do different load percentages and test that way? For example, 7%, 8% and 9%. So a minimum of 3 candles to test for each new FO -- assuming no other variables change. How do you guys approach this?

I'm assuming you've used them before? How about their fragrance? What FO load % would you recommend? Any specific amount of time you let your candles cure for before burning? Trying to get the most optimal hot throw..

Thanks for the reply! Does that mean we poured too cool? Our thermometer was reading about 184 when we poured.. hm. Never had wax cool that fast.

Hi all! Fiance and I are very new to this, but are trying our best to do our diligence and understand what goes into making an awesome, high quality candle. Tonight, we are trying our new wax (Wooden Wick/Lab & Co.'s) Coco Apricot, as well as one of their fragrances. After we poured, we noticed a thin, cloudy layer at the bottom of the vessel on only about half the side. We're unsure as to what this is. Is it just the candle cooling? To better assist, this was our process for this test candle: Melt wax, stabilizing between 180-190 degrees (7oz) Utilize 9% fragrance load (0.63oz) One wax was stabilized, we poured in, keeping it in the 180-90 range for 2.5 minutes while we stirred and immediatley pouring after Vessel & Wick: 2.88" diameter, 3.5" height 0.20 x 0.20 Booster Wooden Wick, 4" H, 3/8" W. Any advice on our process would be great! If anyone happens to have experience with this wax/their company fragrances, we'd love some pointers!

Howdy! Thanks for the info. 6-8%, really? I feel like that throw would be so.. small! I really like STRONG candles. Is 12% really too much? What about 10%? And hmm, you really pour your wax between 125-130? By that time, the wax must be pretty thick and will cool very fast I'm assuming? When we poured around 150, there was a thick layer of 'something' on the bottom of our vessels very soon after pouring.. and the candle got its "white" color pretty fast. Is this your experience as well?

Howdy all, I'm relatively new to candle making and had some questions. I'm using the apricot/coconut blend from Wooden Wick Co., as well as some of their fragrances. The quality seems outstanding. However, I'm running into an issue that I'm not necessarily sure how to handle. As advised, I'm currently heating my wax to between 180-190 degrees (actually aiming for about 187) before adding my FO. However, once my FO is added, I've noticed a considerable drop in temperature -- especially in larger batches. For example, let's say I'm melting 35oz of wax, and adding in 4.2oz of FO (which is about 12% load, which the wax states it can handle), it is not uncommon for the temperature to drop from the mid 180s to around the 155/160 range. I understand this is just due to the displacement of the liquids, but how should I handle this? It's advised to stir in FO for about 2-3 minutes, but how do I handle this when the wax has dropped so much? Won't it not bind? Should I be getting it warm again while stirring, while staying in the 180-190 range, to avoid burning off the FO? The optimal pour temp is also in the same range.. so it has me slightly confused on the best way to approach this. Any advice would be fantastic!