best way to test?

[KTT]

Hi everyone. I've been doing the candle thing for a few months, and this board (search function) has been invaluable! I'm thankful for it as I've learned a lot and still learning! FYI, I use igi 6006 wax and 12 oz status jars. I have yet to actually perfect any candles at this time, but I'm trying.

My question pertains to testing. When I first started, I made my candles with whatever wick I wanted to test with, and if I found the wick wasn't right, I started the whole process over again by making another candle with another wick & same % f o. Later on, I found that some people make wickless candles, poke a hole in the middle, and insert a wick. If said wick wasn't right, they simply pulled out that wick and inserted another one. Once they settled on a wick, then they'd make one or two more normal candles and test those from top to bottom.

For me, that method seemed like a good idea, as it was nice not having to remake a candle every single time in order to find the right wick for starts. However, I've also read that candles burn differently from the top, middle, and bottom. I'm now wondering if this method isn't such a good way to narrow down wicks after all.

How can I test for narrowing down wicks without remaking the same candle over and over, until I've settled on a specific wick?

As of now, I have a candle curing (I was going to use the above method to narrow down a wick). I used 1oz Sweet Pea oil for 1 lb of wax. I do have 3 wick series that I like a lot, which are cotton core, lx, and htp. What should I do? I have one wickless candle already curing, but should I make 2 more with one of those wicks (make them with the wick, and not wickless)? In other words, should I do the wick pull method with the one wickless candle, or is it best for me just make 3 candles and test the 3 wicks that way?

Gee, I don't really like the idea of making 3 candles to narrow down a wick, but I surely will if that's what I have to do. I'm serious about getting good at this, and one day I'd like to have my own business. I'm just concerned with wasting product is all, and it seems making 3 separate wicked candles, only to find out 1 or 2 of them don't work would waste a lot of wax and f o. Not to mention time. On the other hand, making them wickless/pulling wicks would help me narrow down wicks faster, and is good for the top part of the candle, but wouldn't do much to help me once it got to the middle and on towards the bottom.

What should I do? :undecided

Edited November 9, 2012 by KTT

[HorseScentS]

Just make a candle without a wick and poke a hole with a skewer so you can try different wicks in it. It's not perfect, but you will be able to narrow it down to a wick that will probably work. The more you do it, the better you will get at judging whether a certain wick will work from top to bottom.

[KTT]

Meh. I've decided to go back to the original way I was testing and just make multiple testers. I love the idea of wick pulling, lord knows, but I just can't wrap my head around on how to get accurate (or close to) results that way. I think a more seasoned candle maker might be able to get away with it, but I'm too new at this to know if a wick will work from top to bottom using that method. I was hoping there was a sort of shortcut so I wasn't wasting wax & f o, but then I think even if I found the right wick using the shortcut, I could then make a normal wick candle using that wick, but if it acted wonky in the middle or the bottom, I'd have to start all over anyway.

Lol, oh well. I can't say I wasn't warned that getting into candle making is expensive! I'm up for the challenge though!

[HorseScentS]

Meh. I've decided to go back to the original way I was testing and just make multiple testers. I love the idea of wick pulling, lord knows, but I just can't wrap my head around on how to get accurate (or close to) results that way. I think a more seasoned candle maker might be able to get away with it, but I'm too new at this to know if a wick will work from top to bottom using that method. I was hoping there was a sort of shortcut so I wasn't wasting wax & f o, but then I think even if I found the right wick using the shortcut, I could then make a normal wick candle using that wick, but if it acted wonky in the middle or the bottom, I'd have to start all over anyway.

Lol, oh well. I can't say I wasn't warned that getting into candle making is expensive! I'm up for the challenge though!

Okay, well, until you get more experience, the typical way is to make three candles and try three different sizes of one type of wick, like three different sizes of HTP wicks, and see which burns best. Some people make more test candles than that so they can test more than one type of wick, like they'll make six test candles to they can test three sizes of HTP wicks, plus three sizes of LX wicks at the same time. You can remelt your duds and pour them into other jars with new wicks, or make fire starters out of them.

[KTT]

Yes, thank you. I also had wondered if I could remelt my duds into another container and try again. So thank you for that information as well!

Okay, well, until you get more experience, the typical way is to make three candles and try three different sizes of one type of wick, like three different sizes of HTP wicks, and see which burns best. Some people make more test candles than that so they can test more than one type of wick, like they'll make six test candles to they can test three sizes of HTP wicks, plus three sizes of LX wicks at the same time. You can remelt your duds and pour them into other jars with new wicks, or make fire starters out of them.