tschmitt

Okay, I'm confused. You said those candles were from your first batch, and that you are just learning about wood wicks and maybe you should trim them down. But, you are also saying your candles have been tested for safety. I'm not in any way wanting to discourage you, but I'm confused how both can be true. If you don't know for sure if the wicks should be trimmed, how were they tested?

Because both are true and took place at different times. The pictures were taken before the wicks were trimmed and after the mention of the wick length I trimmed them down and tested on a paraffin candle. What happens is that the initial flame with a long wick is quite large, but after about 30 seconds the top of the wick burns out and turns to ash. This results in a smaller more reasonable flame. So, they are both true but did not happen simultaneously.

Your shop has not been open that long really. Work on your tags and get busy on some teams and in the forum to get some traffic to your shop. Etsy takes some time to build sales, visual perfection, perfect photos, or not. It's not a list-it-and-it-will-sell-like-hot-cakes-off-the-bat kind of place.

I'm taking a crash course in these lessons. LOL. Thanks for the Etsy advice! I will try some of your tips and see how it turns out. The visual perfection, or lack thereof, of something I'm working on is just one of my personal kwerks that I need to achieve for the sake of self-satisfaction. Maybe it isn't the pictures, but improvement of work never hurt anything.

It apperas that your problem is not that the wax pulls upward around the wick it is that the wax is shrinking a little and when it shrinks it does not release from the wick causing the cracks. You stated that you've made some candles with cotton wick and did not have this problem, this is because with the smaller round wick the wax is better able to shrink around the smaller surface area of the wick. Because wood wicks are larger and have a greater surface area the bond between the wax and wick is stronger and can not flex enough to compensate for the amount of shrinkage. I've never had this problem and I'm not exactly sure what you can do to prevent it from happening but I have a couple of ideas. First try to wiggle the wick just a little while the wax is still slushy, just enough to break the bond between the wax and wick. Second you can try to add something to counteract the contraction of the wax when it cools like a little beeswax or a hardening agent like stearine in a small percentage. One of these methods should work and I wish you sucessful testing.

I will give these suggestions a try and see is they work out. Thanks for the response and suggestions and I will let you know how they work. Everyones responses are much appreciated, helpful, and hopefully will help in fixing this issue.

Are you selling your wood wick candles on Etsy before you've perfected them and thoroughly tested to make sure they're safe?

Trying to sell without any luck, probably because of this visual defect. The candles have been tested, just not visually perfected.

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I do not believe you will have the same issue with paraffin. As I mentioned, my wood wicks are in paraffin candles and I've never had the problem you're seeing with your soy. The paraffin waxes I use with wood wicks include the 4633, TCS, 4786 and the parasoy 6006 with a bit of 4633 added to it. So I'm beginning to think this may be an all-soy issue?

It probably is a soy wax issue because I tried a paraffin/soy mix candle with a wood wick and the defect was not present. So I am assuming that you are probably right about it being an all-soy issue.

Are the pictures you provided your candles?

Yeah the candles are mine and they have been tested, but not visually perfected. I am trying to find out how to reduce flaws for later candles because I think that these flaws are deterring people from looking at the candles. Plus, I have been trying for some time to correct some of these flaws without asking for advice but I am at a loss and uncertain what to even try to help the visual appeal of my candles.

I am hoping that someone will be able to help with it. These candles were part of my first batch of soy candles and the first time I had ever used the wood wick. I made some soy candles using a cotton wick without any issues, but yeah all of the soy candles with wood wicks seem to have this defect. I have never had this issue with paraffin candles, but have yet to try wood wicks with paraffin so maybe the same defect would occur. In regards to your wick question, I am just learning about wood wicks since this is my first time using them and maybe they are too long. I guess trim them down a bit so the flame isn't so large. Thanks for your response. I'll have to try the wood wick with paraffin and see if maybe it is something I am doing or maybe the wax.

I am having an issue with using wood wicks with my soy candles. The best way I can describe the issue is that the wax is not staying flat when the candle has cooled, instead it cracks and pulls upward away from the rest of the candle around the wick. Is there a way to avoid this issue or is it just how the candle sets with the wood wick? To help clarify what the issue is, I have provided two links to pictures of candles that are doing this. You should be able to understand what I am asking after looking at the pictures.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91147888/wood-wick-soy-candle-mason-jar-12-oz

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91147636/beautiful-soy-candle-with-a-delightful