HELP! Is my candle supposed to look this way?

[Candybee]

If you want to try zinc wicks I would start by testing with a 44 for the smaller round jar and a 51 for the larger square jar. Joy wax is a parasoy blend and zincs work great in them. I used zincs for years in my parasoy candles. Zincs typically burn cooler than other wicks like all cotton CDs. They also carry scent very well due to cool burning temps so scent throw can be maximized using them. However, you should know that zincs are also prone to mushrooming. To minimize this make sure you do not use additives like crisco or you will end up with a smoking candle flame and lots of soot buildup. Also, with zincs you want to test the candle burn carefully to make sure you do not overwick. Overwicking a zinc will cause additional mushrooming, sooting, and smoke.

 

Working with a square jar can be very challenging. If you love this jar and really want to learn how to properly wick it it will require lots of patience and testing.

 

While you are testing I would also start off without any fragrance as suggested earlier by JC. You want to get your wicking down before you add an unknown like a fragrance. Fragrances do not burn the same in every candle. So if you are familiar with how your candle burns before putting in fragrance then it will alert you if the burn changes when you do start testing with one. Then you may better judge from that point if you need to wick up or down for each fragrance you test.

 

Working with any soy whether its 100% or a blend like parasoy will require lots of testing and patience. Patience because it is not unusual for some fragrances to take up to a month to cure and others in less than a week. When I worked with my parasoy I knew from testing which fragrances I needed to cure for 3-4 weeks and which would be cured and ready in a week.

 

Also, not all fragrances will work with your wax. Its just the nature of soy. This can be extremely frustrating I know from my own experience. It took me a good solid two years testing one parasoy blend before I came up with a good, solid,  safe burning candle with a good scent throw. Another year of tweaking and testing before I perfected it into an exceptional candle.

 

I have worked with lots of different waxes over the years and every one of them had their own characteristics, pros and cons. But the one thing I found worked the best is to start out simple. Start out with one wax. One jar. ONE. Test different wick series until you find that one wick which works the best for you with that wax. This will be the hardest part of all working with your wax. Next you will be ready for fragrance testing. Then a new test for each new additive.

 

It shouldn't really be a chore if you are hooked on candlemaking. I found it fun and relaxing and when I finally got that great burning candle I always feel like its a huge accomplishment.

[moonshine]

Your choice of fragrance is completely up to you what you start with - that is totally a choice of what kinds of scents you want to offer and when you start getting other fragrances they will need to be tested as well- just because one works with a certain size wick does not mean they all will- I hope your not under the understanding that when you find one it will work for all because it won't 

TallTayl  gave great advice about choosing 3 sizes of 1 "type" of wick and see what happens - if they all fail you may need another "type" of wick and so on.....if you choose HTP and burn say the 83-93-104 and the 93 is the winner and burned perfect then you have a guideline to go off of using those same 3 wicks for every new fragrance you bring in- you add a different jar same applies - new size wicks will be needed 

if you go to wickit.com like the chart above you can click on each type of wick and read about what it is and the best applications it's used for- these are just guidelines but a good starting point 

I just looked up joy wax and it's soy, other vegetable wax and paraffin exclusive to NG - it says CD WICK series work best but HTP, zinc, hemp and performa can be used with great success....so that tells me I would start with the CD series

the chart above, but looking at CD gives you a reference point to what ones will work with your container size - so a CD Sample pack would be your best starting point IMO

Wicks can be confusing but once you look at the charts it will start to make more sense and the more you experiment with different ones you find which are best burning and throwing for your wax 

some wicks are mainly for paraffin and some soy but those rules do not always apply especially when using a parasoy like your joy wax and that wax is not very popular on here I don't think- don't hear much about it but if you search this forum and type in joy wax you may get a butt load of valuable information 

dive in and have fun with it ?

Edited February 4, 2017 by moonshine

[birdcharm]

I went looking through my "wick info" notes -- oh, what a mess I have in there! 

 

But, I've gathered information on various wicks from various places as I continue on my own wicking adventure.

 

In terms of HTP or CD ... just for basics, I thought I'd share some of the notes I've gathered, for whatever it's worth.

Sorry ... I won't be posting the sources, as they're mixed.

 

HTP Wicks - The American version of the "German Wick". HTP stands for High Temperature Paper.  This wick is wax coated and is a cotton flat braid with a strand of paper braided into it for hotter burning.  These are a rigid wick and are also self-trimming, thus reducing the carbon build-up common to the zinc core wicks.  Used in jar candles, gels, votives and pillars.

 

CD Wicks - These wicks have a flat braid that is rigid enough to be used in pillars as well as containers.  The tip of the wicks bends while burning and practically becomes self-trimming.  They are designed to reduced mushrooming (carbon build up), smoke and soot.  This wick is good for both paraffin and vegetable waxes.  

 

~~ One thing I have noticed, is that the CD wicks have a tendency to lean in one direction, which I don't care for, and I've heard others mention this as well. ~~

 

The other wick type I've been fooling with (besides my square braid cotton, which I still love even though some say they can droop), are LX and I have some Performa samples that I haven't touched, but I'm a bit curious about, so may try one day.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2017 by birdcharm

[CyanideNoodles]

Would getting a straight paraffin wax be easier overall than this parasoy blend? Especially with wicking for certain fragrances, that seems really difficult with the wicking for certain fragrances. I really want to get this right and if parasoy is too difficult for me right now, I want to know if I should spend my money on a pure paraffin wax...

Edited February 5, 2017 by CyanideNoodles

[TallTayl]

11 minutes ago, CyanideNoodles said:

Would getting a straight paraffin wax be easier overall than this parasoy blend? Especially with wicking for certain fragrances, that seems really difficult with the wicking for certain fragrances. I really want to get this right and if parasoy is too difficult for me right now, I want to know if I should spend my money on a pure paraffin wax...

It all depends. While many argue throw is easier with paraffin as compared to soy, paraffin can still soot, mushroom and underperform if not wicked right. Too much fragrance, color, wrong wick choice, etc. can all cause problematic burns. 

 

Then you have loads loads of choices of paraffin blends available to purchase. It gets to be 

 

one bit of hard earned advice, choose a wax and work to figure it out. All waxes have the potential to perform well once you figure them out. Find a supplier close to home if possible to save shipping $. 

[Scented]

1 hour ago, CyanideNoodles said:

Would getting a straight paraffin wax be easier overall than this parasoy blend? Especially with wicking for certain fragrances, that seems really difficult with the wicking for certain fragrances. I really want to get this right and if parasoy is too difficult for me right now, I want to know if I should spend my money on a pure paraffin wax...

Not that you need all of us chirping in ... but here's my philosophy on picking a wax. 

If this is for you with no plans ever of selling ... by all means test around and use a variety of waxes ... eventually it is good to know how a wax-wick-scent combo works in a variety of waxes. 

IF you are trying to get to a business standpoint ... then think about why you chose the wax you initially did. Parasoys have a tendency to appeal to those who think they are being environmentally friendly consumers. I'll probably get backlash for that, but every wax out there was created for something. Typically parasoy still allows, if I'm not mistaken,  for there to be a happy medium between soy and paraffin to produce a wax that isn't so finicky like soy could be or was in its early years. However I believe most paras contain more paraffin than soy, but you can still say it's a soy blended wax to market (though I hate that kind of marketing.)

Then when you remember why you chose the wax you did ... take a look at that wick chart that was a page back and buy several different wick packages. To tell you yes use this zinc-wax-fragrance combo isn't fair, because there are too many different variables. Buy a bunch of different ones ... but here's going to be the problem ... buy more than one pack because you'll need it for another fragrance and yet another etc. till you weed it down to what exactly works for you. 

This is called the expensive-hair-pulling-oh-I-hate-this part of candle making. 

 

My bottom line message to you though is pick one wax and spend the time getting acquainted with it, because the bottom line is IF you ever sell, you need to know the performance of your product and the only way to know it is to survive that which causes you headaches like you have now. 

I wish I could tell you all the answers you need, but there's a reason why I bought a ton of wick  ... most of which I don't use now. See I went on everyone's recommendation at one point ... I dove into some of the newer waxes ... and there wasn't exactly a lot of what someone else could tell me that I could put to continued use, because what worked for them would have burnt down the neighbors barn for me. 

 

So then you want to know if you should spend your money on a pure paraffin wax ... it depends. Is that what you want to learn, because the problems still remain with your wicking. To learn about wicking means you do a lot of sample burns, which means you test with what you think is right and then a size up and a size down and the same with a different type of wick ... and then determine if you liked any of those. If you did, then compare that to at least one other type of wick that was rumored to work with that wax and see if your likes change or not.  THEN, try it out with another fragrance. I know ... that's too much crap to get what I want and it's too time consuming, but it's the amount of crap you just might have to do to learn about your product. 

 

Edited February 5, 2017 by Scented

[moonshine]

Scented and TallTayl have some very good advice here

it took me years to perfect a safe candle and a lot of ?

You have to decide what type of wax your wanting to work with none of us can tell you that, and you can't expect to go into this getting candles that work all the way around right away....reality is it will take time and patience but it can be done you just have to decide your wax and start getting different wick types and plug away  keeping notes and many many trials and errors

if you do plan to sell eventually then you should also research your area, scented is right about certain types appeal to people for various reasons - I couldn't give a paraffin candle away here people are so brainwashed into thinking they are burning toxic fuel, they want soy or beeswax but that isn't stopping me from making parasoy, once that line is complete I will educate people on the facts that paraffin is not evil ?

[CyanideNoodles]

I've been doing the testing via the pan for all the wick samples I got. That's probably the best advice I have ever gotten as it saves SO much time! I'll post my results when I am done. I would have had them much earlier but I have been in and out of the hospital. Thank you to everyone who actually gave me advice. Mushrooming isn't an issue tho right? Another thread I read on here stated it was just an eyesore for some, I really don't care about it and I doubt my customers will care as many just appreciate my candles as I used to do beeswax ones and people really liked them.. just was too expensive.

[moonshine]

mushrooming is an definitely issue 

you certainly don't want a big carbon ball smoking and causing sooting and flame issues 

small little carbon balls are generally not that big of a deal so long as the flame, heat, throw and general burn are good but if you get something like this....that is not a good thing at all 

[CyanideNoodles]

4 minutes ago, moonshine said:

mushrooming is an definitely issue 

you certainly don't want a big carbon ball smoking and causing sooting and flame issues 

small little carbon balls are generally not that big of a deal so long as the flame, heat, throw and general burn are good but if you get something like this....that is not a good thing at all 

The one I tested that mushroomed had a normal sized flame, didn't smoke or soot up and just burnt like a normal looking flame. Does that mean it's okay? (Just clarifying)

[moonshine]

If it looks like my picture I would have to say no....that is my opinion but I would not even think about selling something like this - this is an indication something isn't right with the burn, this is not my candle but in this situation if it were I would first try wicking down to see if it improves 

[moonshine]

Mushrooming is carbon build up usually but not always caused by too large of a wick 

other factors can create this as well such as FO, additives or the type of wick being used in your wax 

what wax are you using - what wick series and size and jar and how much FO from what supplier?

[kandlekrazy]

I don't mean to throw you another curve but have you checked with the supplier you buy the Joywax from to see which wick type/size they recommend for that wax.  Most suppliers have tested what they sell, MOST.  If you bought it from Nature's Garden for example, they recommend a Hemp Wick, doesn't mean you have to use that wick, just gives you a starting point.  When I started candle making I called General Wax (where I get my wax) at least 4 times a week with questions and they were very helpful.  It really helped me with starting out, it helped that I used their jars and fo as well.  Not sure if any suppliers are nearby but some also have classes.

[CyanideNoodles]

On 2/18/2017 at 0:06 PM, kandlekrazy said:

I don't mean to throw you another curve but have you checked with the supplier you buy the Joywax from to see which wick type/size they recommend for that wax.  Most suppliers have tested what they sell, MOST.  If you bought it from Nature's Garden for example, they recommend a Hemp Wick, doesn't mean you have to use that wick, just gives you a starting point.  When I started candle making I called General Wax (where I get my wax) at least 4 times a week with questions and they were very helpful.  It really helped me with starting out, it helped that I used their jars and fo as well.  Not sure if any suppliers are nearby but some also have classes.

I actually did and they weren't very helpful. Previously I had done a different wax and I called them and another candle site and they told me very different answers.

[Trappeur]

2 hours ago, CyanideNoodles said:

I actually did and they weren't very helpful. Previously I had done a different wax and I called them and another candle site and they told me very different answers.

What wax were you trying before if you don't mind me asking?

 

Trappeur