WICKS, WICKS, WICKS - ADVICE PLS

[Natasha2106]

Omgoodness, I swear I'm about to throw these candles out in the bin. Just when I think I'm getting somewhere its 2 steps backwards.  I have a 4" diameter double wick candle jars.  I use a igi 4630 and gw464 mix with 10% FO, the first burn was completely clean and slow burning and achieved a full melt pool and burnt perfect.  I stopped the burn after approx 4 hours and there was mushrooming on the wicks, I wanted to rellight without trimming wick as wanted to see what is was like if customer doesn't trim wick, the flame is all over the place, flickering etc and alot of black smoke coming off too.  

 

So my question is, do I go smaller on the wick and risk not getting a full melt pool but not having lots of burning off on second burn.  i trimmed the wick and it was better, but I'm worried the customers won't trim.  

i've searched through some threads but struggling to find an answer.  

Any advice would be gratefully received. 

Thanks Natasha 

[Trappeur]

What jar are you using and what size wicks?

 

Picture would be great!

 

You don't really want to get a full melt pool on the first burn.

 

Trappeur

[wthomas57]

this is similar to a recent post I made.

Its a double edged sword as you noticed. Damned if you do, damned if you dont.

My advice... make your candles based off of proper burning recommendations.

If customers dont trim or burn properly, that is on them. Yes.. it can make our candles look worse when they dont follow the recommendations but how can we control that. The alternative is just as bad. Imagine customers who DO follow the guidelines but then your candles ended up burning poorly. THAT would really make you look bad.

 

That being said.. dont be trying to get a full MP on first one or two burns (although you are talking about double wicked candles...so never mind).

 

Its a tough spot, can only do what you can control

[TallTayl]

The only way to really know is to burn that candle through to the bitter end. 

[Jcandleattic]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say if you achieved full melt pool on your first burn, unless it's a very short (2" or shorter) jar, that by the time you reach the half-way point or below, those wicks will be too big and burn too hot. 

I double wick my candles and never achieve fmp on my first 3-4 burns. 

The farther down the jar, the more flickering your candle will get. It shouldn't dance too much though. 

And also like others have said, you can't know a how a candle is truly going to test until you burn the entire thing down to the end. 

 

Good luck and keep your progress posted. 

[bfroberts]

Ditto the above.  I try to consider that the customer may not trim the wick, also.  To that end, I try to eliminate mushrooms as much as possible, because unfortunately, if you light a mushroom, it's gonna soot and burn poorly.  You might want to try to lower your FO load to see if that doesn't eliminate some of the mushrooming. 

[TallTayl]

We do our best, for sure and hope the customer is wise enough to ensure a good burn.

 

Sooooo... I bought a double wick candle fromTarget yesterday because I liked the shape of the metal container. (I'm weird like that). The tin is suggestive of a pumpkin. $12.99. Smoked caramel scent. 

 

anywho, it burns a little hotter than I wick mine for reaching the FMP easily on the first burn. CT was ok. HT... It throws fantastically. I can smell it in several adjoining rooms. and the funniest part: it mushrooms like a champ. Several good size carbon balls all over each wick. Looked like bunches of balloons.

 

On the second lighting the flames were tall, danced a jig and were what I consider unpleasant. Trimming the wicks, of course, fixed all of that. Overall I am very happy with the candle.

 

moral of my tale? We do our best to make a safe product. Sometimes the rest is fate.

 

oh, at the same shopping spree I bought a couple of the dollar spot square $3 candles. Wimpy weak flames. No HT. Barely any CT. There is a market for everyone. They always sell out.

[wthomas57]

well said. I frequently buy candles form stores just to compare. Some burn great, some dont.

Some mushroom badly, some dont. Some have great HT, some dont. Most have good CT i must say.

But ya know what... they ALL sell! 

 

I always talk about 3Ps. Price, Presentation, and Performance. Those are the factors for selling. But you dont always need all 3 together. In fact most of the time, its just one or two. Many people buy cheap little candles just to have the look around the house. They could care less how they burn or about HT. Others just want good HT. Others just think its a cute jar.

 

I make what I like, try my best to make it the best I can so it performs as good as possible. Then work on your pricing and presentation. After that... its no longer in your hands.

Edited September 21, 2016 by wthomas57

[Natasha2106]

wow, thanks for all your help and advice guys.  I was always under the impression that the first burn had to achieve a fmp.  I used to buy Glasshouse candles which are around $45AUD, and they say in there guidelines that with the 4inch candle to let it burn for at least 3 -4 hours to achieve a fmp.  This is confusing, do we or don't we is the question.  

 

My jars are 4in in diameter and I use cdn 6 or cdn 8 wicks, these normally give me a fmp and a good burn as a double wick.  Some are too large so I will be testing with cdn 5 and 7 which have now become available here in Oz.  
i'm a perfectionist and always strive to have it 100%, I'm my own worst critic lol.  

 

Thanks guys, I will go back to more testing with alternative wicks and try not to get to fmp on first burn, to ensure it is fmp on second burn.  Does this not create a tunnel tho by not having a fmp on first one or two burns??  

I will test again and see what results I get.  

Thanks again guys  

[birdcharm]

Long ago, I read that your first burn session is a "memory burn" and that you want to create a full melt pool on the first burn, so I've always burned candles that way.  I've also read that a rule of thumb to this is approx. an hour per inch in diameter, so, for instance, a 3" candle would probably require at least a three-hour burn on the first session. 

 

So, now I'm a bit confused too! Maybe this practice is for pillars and novelties, not containers?  Since I always do it, I haven't tested to see what happens if you don't ... what happens?

 

 

[wthomas57]

the risk in burning for a complete MP on first burn is that you end up with way too hot and big of a wick later on.

Yes you want to get fairly close to a complete burn.. but no need to be 1/4" deep all the way across. 

I know you aer worried about tunneling... but when we say you dont need a FMP  that doesn't mean it shoudn't be close.

Tunneling is when its really underwicked. We are talking about getting close to the edge. That "hang up" will catch up over the next several burns.

Tunneled candles dont catch up.

 

If you have mp across the top (at any depth) by half way down you are doing good.

[Jcandleattic]

45 minutes ago, birdcharm said:

Long ago, I read that your first burn session is a "memory burn" and that you want to create a full melt pool on the first burn, so I've always burned candles that way.  I've also read that a rule of thumb to this is approx. an hour per inch in diameter, so, for instance, a 3" candle would probably require at least a three-hour burn on the first session. 

 

So, now I'm a bit confused too! Maybe this practice is for pillars and novelties, not containers?  Since I always do it, I haven't tested to see what happens if you don't ... what happens?

 

 

The "memory burn" is mainly for pillars, but the 1 hour per diameter is a basic rule for most candles. 

What happens if you don't? Not much if it's wicked properly, however, if you burn for only a short period of time each time in container candles, it could mimic an underwicked candle and tunnel. 

As wthomas57 said, tunneling will never "catch up", where as, a little hang-up on the sides will. 

[birdcharm]

Okay -- the longer "memory burn" is not quite as necessary for containers!  I like that!

I've just always used the similar method as with pillars and never tried not doing it!

 

[Scented]

On 9/21/2016 at 9:31 PM, birdcharm said:

Long ago, I read that your first burn session is a "memory burn" and that you want to create a full melt pool on the first burn, so I've always burned candles that way.  I've also read that a rule of thumb to this is approx. an hour per inch in diameter, so, for instance, a 3" candle would probably require at least a three-hour burn on the first session. 

 

So, now I'm a bit confused too! Maybe this practice is for pillars and novelties, not containers?  Since I always do it, I haven't tested to see what happens if you don't ... what happens?

 

 

Well I think once upon a time the first burn was to establish a memory, but if you think about it, the minute you burn a candle longer ... poof goes the memory. 

Now if we look at this "memory burn" as a way to help the maker, then we should commit the memory what happened in that said period of time. 

 

Pillar or container, I don't think there's a memory burn. 

 

As for under burning on the second and consecutive steps, the wax will simply look like stair steps spiraling inward ... if you over burn, you won't see the initial burn. 

 

The memory burn isn't about making a full melt pool on the first burn, but to me it's more about seeing how your melt pool forms, how from the edge, how deep the pool gets, what the flame looks like at say 3 or 3 1/2 hours ... or whatever your diameter is. My pillars are 3x3.5. 

 

The inch per hour ... I stick with that.