Getting started

[Trappeur]

C Dizzle can you describe how you are doing your testings?  We all can make our suggestions to  you to help you further out.

 

Trappeur

[C Dizzle]

I have been doing this since September, almost 4 months. I still am working on testing a lot and I was mainly interested in what others thought of the candles at the show, although there was no one to ask! There are 4 Saturday shows total and I already told them I am not going to the other ones. The only two people that came by didn't even want one so I had no worries. I did give the guy who invited me a few, he's been a friend for almost 20 years and it was ones I have tested thoroughly and are good. We have a local shop wanting me to give them some to sell, and as I said earlier, the only ones I would be comfortable with I've been testing for almost 4 months and if anything, they are very slightly underwicked. I'm still on the fence if I should give them the two products I know are solid, or wait until I have at least half a dozen or so good ones. They are fine either way, my wife is fine either way, I'm just undecided on what is best.

 

Those two are red hot cinnamon with red dye chips in GB 464, and mistletoe with green dye blocks in GB 464 in Status 12 oz and Status 21 Oz. They burn almost to the edge but there's a slight residue on the side. So it's tunneling, but its not a pure tunnel as it looks like residue on the side of the glass rather than a pure tunnel. I am going to test with an ECO 16, but I feel like it may be too far on the too hot side. I also want to test out CD 14s and 16s to see if one is perfect. The jar isn't very hot, and the hot throw is AMAZING in both of these. It's unreal how great they are, and their only issue is the residue on the sides. Even these that I am confident in I want to test with CD wicks before I sell them to anyone. I also have some of these in Status 2 Oz with ECO 4, but I haven't tested them as thoroughly as the other sizes, and thus am not confident in that size yet.

 

My friends on FaceBook have been a bit overzealous on saying they to order them in the posts, but only one of them has actually PM'd me trying to actually order one. I doubt I'll be ready by Christmas unless they want the two I mentioned as surely I'll be done by then. You all have every right to be concerned with a new crafter selling untested products, and I am sure that's what it looked like. But I am not selling them, yet! I've known this guy 30 years when we were wee lads, so it's also someone I trust to test and he's very interested in helping me get products he and his girlfriend can buy from us rather than from a big box store. I'm also going to be giving him some to test rather than selling at first.

 

I do agree with your concerns and I have been challenging myself already to not sell a single thing unless I test it and it's great and safe. I will admit I was wrong about thinking it would be OK to sell to someone if they wanted it for decoration only, because they might change their mind and then might have something dangerous. I had not thought of that and I'm so very glad that situation did not arise as I probably would have made a mistake there. I wish I had been more clear in what I was doing earlier so you all had less to worry about, but alas I did not!

 

For the record, I have not been scared away, everyone here has been helpful and direct. That's what I need AND what I want, so it works out! I wish I knew these boards existed in September, but I have been perusing them heavily since I found them. My goal is to learn my craft well, and start giving back to the new people who show up after I feel confident in what I am doing. I would imagine that's several months out at the earliest, and I admit I do not know what I am doing yet. I also hope people are honest when it comes to something looking bad. If I make something and it looks terrible, 95% of my friends and family will say "That's great". I NEED people to say it does not look great. I am actually even more interested in staying on these forums as I am sure someone will point out I'm going to make a mistake if I am going to make one and not realize it. That's fantastic.

 

For the record, to clear this up, the ONLY people I've given candles to are my mother in law, a friend I've known 20 years, and a friend I've known 30 years. I've ONLY given them two of the ones I am confident in. And I won't give any to ANYONE other than ones I am confident until they are perfect. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to things like that and I am also scared of selling something dangerous. I was in a weird position as I was going to feel bad telling people they couldn't buy the candles, but I did not have to. It all worked out very well, but I'm not going to go to another until we are ready with a line of candles we are confident in that are fully tested.

 

Testing:

 

Here is what I have been doing to test. I'll give an example with cinnamon. I make and pour the candles in different jars, and then burn them all the way down. I'll then try other wicks if the only concern is wicking, and if it doesn't have a solid hot throw, I plan to go back and experiment with wicks until I get it right. I have been writing down what all I added. I then burn them down all the way in 4 hour increments and take notes. When a candle has been slightly underwicked, I haven't gone a wick size up yet as I've been fearful of what would happen had I gotten one too hot. I haven't had a jar seriously overwicked yet, and I'm a bit scared of what would happen, but I suppose going from underwicked at ECO 14 to a ECO 16 shouldn't be too crazy, so I might as well do it to test. The only overwicked candles I have had were ECO 4s in Status 2 Oz jars, but those haven't been too crazy. I do need to go down in them though as they are leaving soot on the sides.

 

I have read on here that some people will make the candle wickless and then dig a hole with a threading needle to put the wick they think works. If it doesn't, they remove the wick and try another. I feel if I did that and settled on a wick, I should still make another candle and burn it all the way down before I feel it's properly tested. I noted you said 3 hours earlier. Do you do it in 3 for every jar type? How long do you wait until after you do the test before you test the same candle again in another 3/4 hour increment?

[C Dizzle]

 

I hope I didn't scare you off from coming here to the board as I did come off a bit blunt, but we are all here to learn and help one another. 

 

My post was a bit long, so I wanted to make sure I posted this part again. It would take a lot to scare me away. Trying to help me and helping prevent me from making terrible mistakes will only make me ask more questions here, not less. And even though what I was actually doing was a bit different than what it seemed, I learned a LOT from the concerns posted about it here, and I will make sure y'alls advice is taken into consideration and hopefully I make less mistakes because of it.

 

Be blunt. I prefer it!

[C Dizzle]

Is there a more efficient way to test? I have also read that someone says you can wait one week to test even for candles that take two weeks to cure, yet didn't explain it. That doesn't make sense to me. Is there more to it?

[Guest OldGlory]

Depending on the depth of your candle, you DO NOT want it to burn all the way across on the first few burns of 3 ish hours each time. Residue remaining on the side of the glass is not considered tunneling. Tunneling is when the candle burns down in the middle with a lot of wax left on the sides. I just threw away some testers that tunneled on me - wish I had saved them to show you. The 3.25" diameter jar had a burn pattern that left an inch of wax all the way around the jar after 3.5 hours of burn time. I was trying a new wax with Premier wicks instead of zinc wicks. I went back to the zincs! (Parasoy wax)

 

When wicking a deep jar you have to test burn the entire candle - all the way to the bottom. The first inch or two will burn differently than the last inch or two. Your candle needs to be safe the whole way. It took me 2 months to find the right wood wick combination for a 6" deep, 4" wide jar. I thought I was going to pick it up and throw it thru the window on more than one occasion. What a valuable lesson.

 

Obviously we have no way of knowing what your customer is going to do with your candle but we have to prepare for some pretty intense conditions.

[C Dizzle]

Thank you for this advice.

 

Is any amount of tunneling acceptable? Obviously I see why you wouldn't want an inch tunnel, but what about 1/8" or whatever?

[Guest OldGlory]

It completely depends on the depth of the jar and how the wax is melting. In some situations, 1/8" hang up is going to be ideal. Nobody can say precisely how much because they might not be using the exact same fragrance, the same wick and the same wax combination that you are using. Plus there are other variables like ambient room temperature, air circulation, etc.

When your candle gets to the bottom 1/3 of, let's say a 4" tall candle, the heat in the jar will not escape like it did in the top half of the candle. That heat is trapped in the jar. As the candle burns the heat trapped will increase and melt off the sides. This is where testing gets uber important. Obviously you don't want the amount of wax on the sides to drown the wick, you just want a slow melt-off. And the only way to find that out is to test burn every different fragrance in every different jar with every different wax. I know. It is a total PITA. Once you find the wax you prefer with some good results on fragrancing and wicking, it gets easier.

There are hundreds of threads on wicking all sorts of waxes. You really should take a few days and read, at minimum, all the threads in General Candlemaking, Vegetable Candlemaking, and Fragrance Discussions. It will blow your mind. Don't be fooled by the title of the thread. We often veer a little off topic in threads and touch on some important information.

[C Dizzle]

I have been reading quite a bit, but I am seeing some conflicting information sometimes. I'm still learning a lot though! I have been spending at least an hour, usually more, over the past several days reading and I am sure I'll keep going for a while. I've been sticking mainly to this forums, but just started looking at General Candlemaking today.

 

That's very good to know about burning down testers all the way with the side tunneling. That makes a lot of sense.