henhao

Hi everyone. I made my latest candle like usual (still using soy/paraffin blend) but this time something unexpected happen: I woke up to take my candle from the mold I found a hole had formed down the middle during the cooling after the second pour. Looks like it goes down about two inches, next to the wick. What is the reason something like this might happen, so I can try to prevent it in the futre? Could I just pour some wax in it now to fill the hole as a makeshift solution for this particular candle? Also, for some reason the candle won't come out of the mold, though I used some cooking spray int here as usual. Should putting it in the fridge for 10 mins when I have a chance do the trick, and if it doesn't what is the next step? Thanks for your help.

apprecaite the info, stella and topofmurrayhill. I had read that the candle forms a "memory" and that whatever the size of the meltpool established on the first burn, that is as far as the the meltpool will extend on subsequent burns. That is why I was wicking up over and over when I saw I was not getting a full meltpool in 3 hours after the first burn. Now that I know I still have a hope of forming a full melt pool within a few burns, I ill spend more time testing with one wick and observe the results.

Thanks for your reply Stella. you mentioned you dont worry about forming a FMP on the first burn with soy and palm, is that because these waxes are known to take much longer to form a FMP, in which case what I'm seeing might be typical, reflecting the ingredients in the wax blend I'm using? How is a FMP expected to form with such candles? Would I expect to need to burn it six hours each time? or will it eventually form a full meltpool over time if I just burn it three hours each time?

Royal Star, it's a coincidence you should mention cotton core wicks because I just got a sample pack of these wicks. I do like the way these wicks burn. I see a very noticeable improvement over the wicks I was using before. But I am having problems achieving a full melt pool in 3 hours. I have tried C-60 all the way through C-85 wicks in my testing and can't get a full melt pool in under six hours. I started a thread called "meltpool questions"; if you read it and have any suggestions, I'd appreciate hearing them. I am wondering if the problem is the "paraffin blend" wax I am using. I have emailed nature's garden a couple of times now to ask about what is in the blend and what wicks they suggest with it, but they do not reply. I knew nothing of candle making when I ordered the wax and just sort of jumped right in blindly; if I knew what I know now I would have ordered pure paraffin. And I am guessing I should put off making my next pillar until I order some.

Update: I continued to allow the candle to burn for another two hours with the C-75 wick and the melt-pool continued, very slowly, to grow. So my impression is the candle will probably form a full melt-pool after 6 hours of burning. Would this be unusual for a 3" pillar?

I have expanded my candle supplies now to include some square braid #1, and hope to try making a candle with this soon, but I am still trying to find the right size wick for the candles I've made so far with a wick pin, so that I can get a meltpool that extends over the majority of the surface of the wax. The wax I am using is a "paraffin blend" granulated wax from natures garden. I am making 3" scented pillars and was originally using Yalely wicks for 3" candles, but found I was only getting a small meltpool with these wicks, and there was a tunneling effect. The candle supply person recommended cotton core wicks to me, so I bought a cotton core wick sample pack. Everything I've read says to burn an hour for each inch of the candle, so I'm assuming a full melt pool should be formed after 3 hours. Is that an accurate guideline, or no? First I tried a C-70 wick. After 3 hours I had a meltpool near 2 inches. So I cut off the melted part of the candle and inserted a C-75 wick. Now after another 3 hours I have the same result: a near 2 inch meltpool. Is this as large as I should expect for a 3 inch pillar, or is a larger melt pool to be expected? I am perplexed over the fact that the C-75 did not result in a larger meltpool than the C-70, despite being a larger wick. Assuming a larger meltpool is to be expected, what should be my next step--to try again with a C-80? or could the wax blend I am using be causing the problem somehow? Or is it just the 1 hour per inch rule doesn't apply here? Are there some 3" pillars that might take 5 or 6 hours to form a full meltpool? Thanks in advance for helping me with my questions.

Well, I am using a pillar mold with a wick pin. So I would be inserting the wick after the wax has set and I've removed the candle from the mold. No chance of wax soaking into the wick that way. That is why I thought I would need to prime it first.

So far I have only used pre-primed, tabbed wicks, but for my next candle I am going to buy some square braid wicking and some wick tabs. Since I'm using a wick pin, I gather I will need to prime the wick before inserting it. My question is about the wax needed for priming. One article I read said to prime the wick using "pure paraffin only." However, the only wax I have at the moment is a granulated "paraffin blend" from natures garden. Should I be okay with that, or is it really necessary for me to purchase pure paraffin for the priming to be effective? Thanks for your help.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I am learning more all the time. Now I know where some of my fragrance problems have come from: I haven't been using the full ounce, because I was going by fluid ounces, not weight. I will use the full bottle with my next candle, and expect I will have much improved fragrance results. I didn't realize wax can only hold so much fragrance. That is helpful to know if I ever make a candle from leftover wax. It sounds like leftover wax is best used for making a non-scented candle of some kind and FOs are best saved for candles made with fresh wax.

Thanks Stella for the detailed description of your technique. I will keep that in mind for the future. One thing I am curious about is why do you remove the wicktab from the wick? Or are the wicks you are using not pretabbed? (The only ones I've tried so far are pretabbed)

conversion told me 1 oz is 2 tablespoons, so that is what I have been adding to my candles: 2 tablespoons of scent. But I notice with the naturesgarden scent bottles I'm using, there is some left over after this: perhaps about 1/2 oz? I'm wondering about ways to use this leftover scent... Would it be advisable to just pour in the entire bottle when making the candle, adding more scent than is typically recommended? Or can mixing different leftover scents have pleasant results? I am also wondering, when remelting scented wax to make another candle, how much of the scent remains, and will it still be faintly noticeable in the new candle? My other question is: are there any cheap ways to dye candles, which would allow one to work with many colors, without buying many individual bottles of dye? I have bought a few liquid dyes which seem to work great, but I am just a beginner and would like to find a less expensive way to have access to a lot of colors, if possible. I have read that many use crayons, but then I have also read others warning against using crayons, saying it will have a negative effect on the final product. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Thanks ChrisR. Was able to change out wicks just fine this way. Also, I let the candle burn a few minutes before taking the original wick, and after that the wick came out fairly easily when pulling on the tab.

Fortunately I am using a wick pin and tabbed wicks. But When I try to pull the tab at the bottom, the wick doesn't want come out. Is the idea to just yank it out, getting as much of the wick as you can, and then push the wick pin through again to re-open the space?

well the candles I am making right now are pillars. so that is what I specifically would like to know, though I may make jars and votives in the future--seems like those would be even harder to rewick?

I was hoping to try a few different wicks on one and the same candle, to compare results. Is this possible? Is there a way to remove the first wick after it has burned for awhile and has fused with the wax of the candle? If so, what is the best way to do this? Thanks.

Thanks Royal Star, I will check out that site. Since you seem to be making candles in a mold similar in size to the mold I am using, can you tell me which wick you have found is best suited to the 3 x 6.5 pillar? I have 100 zinc core wicks which read "62-52-18 extra large." I have not tried using any of these yet with my pillars, but was wondering if I could expect them to work well or badly.

I am new at candle making and have just made three candles so far. I have been making scented pillar candles in a 3 x 7 mold. I am using nature's garden paraffin blend wax (I ordered a huge bag of it) and also using their scents. I have been using one ounce of scent per candle. All in all I am not too satisfied with the results in terms of scent and would appreciate any advice from more experienced candle makers. From what I've read so far I have the impression that perhaps the problem is my candle only has a three inch diameter and so isn't producing a wide enough melt pool? For making scented candles is it recommended I get a wider mold and if so what is a good size? Is one ounce a good amount of scent for the size candle I have been making and are nature's gardens scents considered good quality or does anyone have other recommendations? Actually, in my second candle I only used 1/2 ounce of scent because after smelling the first when it was finished (before burning it for the first time), it seemed so overwhelming I thought one ounce might be too much! But that was clearly a mistake, because the scent of the second candle is pretty weak as a result. Thanks for your feedback.

In the candlemaking guides I've read so far, some say the bottom of the mold becomes the top of the candle, others say the top is the top. Is this just a matter of personal preference? Or is there some advantage to flipping the candle when it's finished?

Hi Vicky, Thanks for your reply. I ordered most of my supplies from Natures Garden. I'm using their parafin blend wax, and 1/2 ounce of their "cocoa cabana" fragrance oil (which has "candlepro.com" written on the label). Since I ordered the wrong sized wicks from them I had to go to a crafts store, where I picked up Yaley 9" pre-waxed large bleached wicks. No additives. Update on candle: I burned it for three hours. At some point it stopped drowning in its own wick and kept burning. But I'm still not sure if I'm getting a wide enough meltpool or not? And although I'm trying to keep the wick straight, it seems to burn unevenly, always tending toward one side, though there is no draft. Another thing: on my third pour I ended up going over the top of the other two pours by mistake, when I was trying to fill in the area left behind from moving the wick pin. Could this also have something to do with the uneven melting?

I am just getting started with candle-making and I have a few questions. I am using parrafin blend wax, a 3 x 7 mold with a wickpin and some 9" large wicks which say they are for candles 3-4" inches in diameter. First candle went well, but I noticed that the wickpin left a hole a little bit wider than my wicks, so that there is a little empty space between the wick and the candle. Is this something I need to be concerned about? While making my second candle I noticed that the wickpin was off-center after pouring, so tried to adjust it before the second pour in a make-shift way, using a rubberband, so it would be in the center. Since the wax had hardened a bit by this time, it left a gap in the center, which I thought would fill on the second pour, but which apparently did not fill in! The second candle is the only one I have tried burning so far. The melt pool is very small: not quite 1 inch in diamater, on a 3 inch candle. After burning for a little bit the candle drowned in wax in the pool. I'm trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. Is this because the wicks are too thin? or because of the problem I had when making the second candle? or both? Is there anything I can do now to make the candle burn properly, so that there will be a wider melt pool? About how wide a melt pool should one expect on a 3" candle? Thanks for your help -- and any tips would be appreciated.