Ramr Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 I used the search function to see if there were any threads on making wicks. Not with spooled wick that you purchase, but with other stuff you find laying around the house. The search function did not direct me to any discussions about people making their own wicks. So, in honour of my inner pyromaniac, I will share things that I have stuffed in a candle and lit on fire. Learn from my failures. Some of this was discussed in the wooden wick thread. First, youtube tells you to soak your wick material in a mixture of borax and salt then let it dry and blah, blah, blah. Forget that. Takes too long. No time. Want results NOW. All things I burned were prepped by being dipped in wax to make them stiff enough to handle. None of them had wick tabs either and I have puzzled over how to make those at home. I saved used ones and pried them open and re-used them but that is stupidly slow so forget that. More on making wick bottoms later. Back to things I have burned. Cotton butcher string I had in the kitchen junk drawer. At least I think it was cotton. It was supposed to be. It was flimsy and pathetic. When lit it frayed and flickered and was overall a very unruly burn. I think it was a low grade cotton with perhaps lots of ground up bits of bug bodies in it or something but it would flare up then die down randomly, flaming bug bits I think. I would not recommend this to anyone. DMC embroidery floss, all 6 strands together. This made a very teeny, thin wick. It is so soft and flexible when doing needlework but I was amazed at how it stiffened up when dipped in wax. It made a beautiful, steady little flame that did nothing weird or stupid. I was very surprised at how nicely it behaved. Only problem it really was too thin to make a melt pool in a votive. Close, but not quite. If you were making poured candles in shot glasses, this would be a perfect wick if you like small, civilized flames. I loved this flame. 100% combed cotton knitting yarn by Crème de la Crème, worsted weight 2.5 oz. I don't know if that refers to the size of the ply or the weight of the whole skein. It is slightly thicker than the butcher string and I didn't really expect much of a difference between this and the butcher stuff, but I was wrong. I suspect that this is a more pure cotton and does not get quite as flaring up or wobbling as the butcher string. It did not untwist and flare during burn. But this is a fairly large wick for a votive and makes a full melt pool very quickly, then will go on to liquefy the top inch of the candle! The flame is TALL and you have to really keep this wick trimmed to keep it civilized. I think this would work well in a small container candle. However, one will burn great and the next votive in the same batch will be lousy with this wick. When it's good, its' good and when it's bad, it's bad. I took an old pair of jeans and stitched a line straight down and straight back again. (Like 4 inches long) Then cut as close to that line of stitching on both sides as I could. I got in really, really close with my rotary cutter and my straight edge trimming as close as my old eyes would allow me to see. Dipped this incredibly thin piece of denim fabric in wax, insert in candle, light, HOLY CRAP! You can roast a wiener over that flame! This is a BAD idea! Do not do this is safety is a concern you have. Now, none of these wicks had a wick tab and as they got to the bottom bit of the candle they all fell over and snuffed out. Some of them did this with 1/2 inch of wax still in the candle and that upset me because I was like, awww, man, I could have burned that candle more, but no, because the stupid wick plopped over. I tried making wick tabs out of tinfoil. That never worked. I rummaged through Hub's collection of itty bitty nuts and tried jamming wicks in those, but apparently he had plans for those itty bitty nuts and was not happy that they were being lost forever in the bottom of a candle. I thought maybe I could affix them somehow to tiny bits of wood, but having a floating, flammable hunk of wood in a pool of molten wax just sounded like a bad idea (sort of like my wood wick experiments!). However, I did devise some sort of bottom that I have inserted in candles but no burn tests to see how they work. Or not. Here, in winter, we wrap heat tape around the water troughs to keep them from freezing. We use a special heat proof tape. It is silver, like tinfoil, only it's tape. I have cut very thin strips of this tape and wrapped it around the bottom of the wick. This is not nearly the size of a wick tab. Not even close. But it may be just heavy enough that it keeps the wick upright until there is no more wick to burn. Being foil I assume the tape itself will not burn - although not having burned one to the bottom yet I cannot say how this particular experiment will end. Probably badly! This concludes my long winded report on the trial and error stupidity that has been going on at my house lately. I know there are other experimenters out there who've tried this. I just couldn't find the posts. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 Very interesting this thread....Out of curiousity, what is the reason for wanting to make your own wicks? Just to experiment and have something to do just for the sake of it? Very interesting I must say. Trappeur 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah S Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 That's some creativity! It certainly makes you appreciate the science behind industry standard wicks. @Ramr, I am quite enjoying your candle adventures, please do keep sharing! Where's @Sponiebr? I distinctly remember a thread where he experimented with making a wick out of straw. I'm seeing a lot of similarities here, lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramr Posted September 23, 2018 Author Share Posted September 23, 2018 Trappeur, I suffer from an illness that I call, I Can Improve That. If this will work, then THIS will work better. Or differently. Or I don't have to wait 2 weeks for it to come in the mail. Or why buy wicks when I can burn micro-strips of old pants (no, you can't). I love a challenge and keep trying things often shuffling off in defeat. BUt at least I KNOW what will and won't work and as SarahS said, it makes you appreciate the science that goes into wicks, because those things didn't happen by accident, I can tell you! If I wasn't a dull old housewife, I might have been a mad scientist blowing things up in labs. Ooooh, that sounds like fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 Cool! and good for you Ramr....I envy you for taking on something like this. I wouldn't even know where to begin! Even more so knowng that a woman (a mad scientist) was attempting to do such a thing as this,,,,It's a woman's world! Keep us informed how you fare with your experiments.... Trappeur ' 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerven Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 A thin jute twine, maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 2 hours ago, Kerven said: A thin jute twine, maybe? Fat jute dipped in liquid vasoline works better... (just say'n) 6 hours ago, Ramr said: Trappeur, I suffer from an illness that I call, I Can Improve That. BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA! (It WILL consume you, you know... Ask me how I know... go on... ask...) Pants burn just fine, you just gotta moderate them properly... Remember fuel supply+rate of fuel supplied= flame size. Pants deliver butt tons of fuel FAST, so either make them really small and/or short or make them so that they don't wick as efficiently. Did you know HDPE is a type of paraffin wax? Yeah BAYBAY!!! FLAME'N JUGS O'MILK!!! 9 hours ago, Sarah S said: That's some creativity! It certainly makes you appreciate the science behind industry standard wicks. @Ramr, I am quite enjoying your candle adventures, please do keep sharing! Where's @Sponiebr? I distinctly remember a thread where he experimented with making a wick out of straw. I'm seeing a lot of similarities here, lol. Yes... It can be done, though I will admit the straw was less of a crowd pleaser than I had hoped for, that hard outside skin doesn't wick work a damn which leaves only the pithy insides to suck fuel and well, they don't last long. Still it can be done if you are willing to cut split, stack, drench and mold them in wax before hand. I'll be honest, of all the crap I have set fire to and called "WICK" straw has to be #1 at the bottom of my list. I can't TELL you how disappointed I was... (especially after trying to get Trapp, TT, and Moonshine to do my dirty work in testing for me... SUCH a DISAPPOINTMENT...) But I digress... Again I MUST RE-itterate... NOT a CHANDLER... I'm a BUBBLE HEAD... not a Waxer... Sponiebr The Executor of Bad Ideas and ill tempered psychopathic penguins with schizophrenia... I gotta put the penguin down... He's going nutz(er) again! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramr Posted September 24, 2018 Author Share Posted September 24, 2018 Sponiebr, I thought of you today as I lit some wood wick votives. Stir sticks split in half long ways. Don't burn worth a darn. Complete rubbish. Bliss me off! Yet others burn away merrily. Wood is evil. Also, burning 100% cotton denim pants is one thing. Burning cotton denim pants that have lycra or spandex in them is something different. I remember when we sat through our high school classes in blue jeans that had no give, no stretch. How in heaven's name did we not all suffer internal damage due to our guts being lacerated by those unyielding waistbands, that actually sat on our waist and not floating somewhere below navel. It was the dark ages of blue jeans. But THOSE jeans make superior wicks! No stretchy stuff in sight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 How did you make a wick out of the denim pants? Oh yeah, those were the days of wearing jeans NON STRETCHY....and always trying to look 1/2 decent in them with making them as tight as possible so you could fill out the spots and look sexy but then taking them off and seeing your waist all imprinted red from the waistband...I couldn't wait to take them off when I got home. Trappeur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponiebr Posted September 24, 2018 Share Posted September 24, 2018 12 hours ago, Ramr said: Sponiebr, I thought of you today as I lit some wood wick votives. Stir sticks split in half long ways. Don't burn worth a darn. Complete rubbish. Bliss me off! Yet others burn away merrily. Wood is evil. Also, burning 100% cotton denim pants is one thing. Burning cotton denim pants that have lycra or spandex in them is something different. I remember when we sat through our high school classes in blue jeans that had no give, no stretch. How in heaven's name did we not all suffer internal damage due to our guts being lacerated by those unyielding waistbands, that actually sat on our waist and not floating somewhere below navel. It was the dark ages of blue jeans. But THOSE jeans make superior wicks! No stretchy stuff in sight! Oh.... Um, you actually made a wick out of a synthetic blend, and lit it on fire? Wow. Yeah. Don't try this with synthetics... It's gotta be 100% natural plant fiber. Fur, hair, and wool DO work (kind of) but trust me burning hair isn't a good smell. Polyethylene is about the only plastic you can burn, and that doesn't even smell great, there are others but really just not worth your time to find them, but Polyethylene twine can be used. The problem is figuring out if it is pure polyethylene or polystyrene or polypropylene or a blend of any of those others... Not worth it when there's millions of eligible plant fibers out there. 4 hours ago, Trappeur said: Oh yeah, those were the days of wearing jeans NON STRETCHY....and always trying to look 1/2 decent in them with making them as tight as possible so you could fill out the spots and look sexy but then taking them off and seeing your waist all imprinted red from the waistband...I couldn't wait to take them off when I got home. Trappeur Well! That's a handy piece of info right there! NO MORE stretchy jeans for my wermens! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramr Posted September 24, 2018 Author Share Posted September 24, 2018 Sponiebr, my Hub grows increasingly alarmed at the things I am setting on fire. Nothing is safe from experimentation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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