Lawlaw410

2 hours ago, BusyBee said:

@Xersis

Little bit more experienced chandlers can give you some advice, but you are on your own when it comes to your own candle making method.  There is no right or wrong method on percentage of FOs, getting quick melt pool, curing time, etc.  How much soot is acceptable?  For me, it is zero soot.  But is that possible?  You are the one that need to decide what is acceptable or not by doing marketing research for you targeted market.  If you have that data, then you will know what is acceptable or not.  Production & testing method should be different for person to person due to difference of candle preference.

 

Diptyque choose to make this kind of candle.  Big mushroom & soot on their container (see top edge of 2nd picture)!  Many people say they are one of the best in the world.  It is not only that many customers would not trim their wick, they would not notice good candle even if you are able to create one.  They are brain washed with super marketing power, and they have zero candle burning knowledge.

 

 

What we are trying to achieve in candle making is to create the most beautiful flame.  When we do have beautiful candle flame, then it will take care of the all problems.  Not all candle flames are same, and you will know when you see a good flame and bad one.

*My definition of a beautiful flame would be BRIGHT NICE SIZE STEADY candle flame that produce WARM AIR CURRENTS.

 

I would end each wick test as soon as I notice one of the following.  This can eliminate a lot work bad wicks without wasting too much time.

Too hard of ignition

Too small or too tall flame

Flickering flame with soot

Flame dancing around (*Some slow dancing around near the bottom of container would be considered as normal.)

Container gets too hot

Hot air current:  Some wicks are producing really hot air currents which might be considered acceptable.  But the ones producing cooler air currents would be performing better than hot air current producing wicks.

Mushrooming

Leaning wick

Too much curling

When the flame is hitting the wall of container due to leaning or too much curling.

Deep melt pool:  *For me I stop whenever melt pool gets deeper than 3/8".  My preference would be less than 1/4".

*If certain wicks pass above categories, then I move on to more detailed testing as you & I have mentioned above in this post. 

 

Set your target on what you want to create first, and then execute!  Once again, good luck with your candle making venture!  

Thank you for the extremely well thought out reply, I really appreciate it and will definitely be referencing it for info in the future! Yeah, unfortunately people associate the price and social media popularity of diptyque candles being “the best”. Maybe they were originally known for being excellent perfumers, but as soon as people saw makeup and lifestyle influencers have their candles on their counters, they became “superior”. 

45 minutes ago, pughaus said:

I 2nd this! 

 

Xersis you may find it helpful to watch this video.  It'll answer most of your questions and give you all the visuals you need.  Among other things, it will show you how much hang up you can have well into the burn life of a soy candle and still have it consume all the wax by the end.  I believe they are using 464 wax in this video.  

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you guys for the insight. I know this wasn’t my post, but I’m new to the craft and never really understood why people may test only half filled vessels, but it’s pretty obvious that will only give half of the story. I can maybe understand if you only slightly tweak something, but I’m at the point where I’m trying to get a baseline and 4 solid designs together. Also wondering if I could re-melt un-dyed, un fragranced wax in failed candles. Thanks guys!

19 minutes ago, NightLight said:

Tins you must burn all the way down because the tin heats up, wax becomes very liquid in bottom half.

Open jars versus closed jar, different wicks as well.

Limit your containers, pick the wax test, pick four fragrance so you don’t get overwhelmed testing.

I like to do three to four hours burns and see how the candles burns. One hour burns are useless, everyone I know who burns candles likes to burn them at least two hours.

I do half full jars for testing because this is where they get hot when you burn.

You have to patient, but you will learn which wick to use for your wax, when to swap out a wick series for another

if your fragrance, or dye make it necessary for another style wick. Lots of factors but you learn a lot.

Buy candles from companies and test burn besides yours.

If you only do half of the container for the test, then how do you know if you’ll get a large enough melt pool at the top where there’s more heat escaping? Not trying to question your method to be snarky, I’m a total newbie and really don’t know lol. If testing with half of a jar is actually do-able then I’m gonna do it! 

Thank you so much. You’re right about having a “knockout” list, and I suppose I got some decent data about what not to use.   
 

quick question if you see this: are there any other wicks suited for coconut wax besides CD, ECO, or wood? Thanks again 🙂

So I recently found out that I could pour a candle without the wick, take a skewer and poke a hole, and wick my candle that way so if it fails, I can remove it and try a new one. I have some questions about this process:

1. If you re place a wick half way down, then you don’t really have a full candle’s worth of testing on it, so does is this method even worth it?

2. once the wick is down to 2” or less in length, it’s not stabilized, can move around after being extinguished and they’ve also just flopped over because they’re not tabbed. 
 

4. If I go the traditional wicking route, is it ok to re melt wax with no FO or dye if the wick fails? 
 

thank you!

5 hours ago, TallTayl said:

For coconut wax is I never aim for a full melt pool. Never.

 

A full melt pool is a limit not a goal.
 

If you get a full melt pool at the top of the jar it will be dangerously hot very quickly further down.
 

Using bigger wicks also means it burns more fuel so if you want more m pool wick down. It sounds counterintuitive but it’s true. Heat from the flame melts the wax, a smaller “straw” does not draw up so much fuel so excess is left as a pool. 
 

coco apricot wax (ceda cerica) does very well as a long long but omg candle in that size jar by not hitting full melt pool until the last 1/2” of wax at the bottom. The sides gently weep the hang up wax from the sides throughout the whole burn and provide fresh scented wax the entire burn. 

Thanks for the advice. Some candles I had a thick 1/2 inch ring around the edge resulting in a large tunnel essentially. I did have one that had a thinner wall of wax but it gradually shrunk down like you mentioned. 

I’m also testing a 4.75” dia vessel with coco apricot and a wooden wick and it’s doing the same thing, but I still have a few more cycles to go before it’s done. 

When I had a full melt pool after a 2nd cycle with virgin coconut wax, the temp of the container was within normal limits, but you think maybe the pool itself could have been too hot and would possibly affect my hot throw once I add FO? 
 

thank you again for the insight! 

Hey guys! I’m pretty new to candle making and have run my first cycle of tests on multiple vessels. So far, I’m only doing wax with no dye or FO to get a baseline wick/wax/container combo established. 
 

I can’t get a full melt pool with coco apricot wax using an Eco12 or a CD4. Ideally, I’d like to stick to a single wick for these containers. The sizes of vessels I’ve tried with both eco 12 and cd4 are 3 1/2” high x 3 1/8” diameter and the other is slightly smaller in diameter at       3 1/2” high x 3” diameter. 
I did get a full melt pool on both containers with Coco 83 coconut wax however. 
 

Basically, what I’d really like to know is are there any other types wicks appropriate for coconut waxes? (except for wood) 

I have soy candles from Spiritual and Paid that are single wick and the first container I’ve mentioned is actually one of theirs from an old candle I’ve burned. They burn evenly and fully, so I’m super curious as to what they use. I know I’m kind of all over the place, but any guidance would be totally appreciated! Thank you!!