nashbubba Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 Absolute beginner here. My tapered glass container is 4.25 in. across the top and reduces to about 2.5 in. near the bottom. I plan to use Golden Brands 464 soy. I have HTP 105 and HTP 93 wicks. I plan to use two HTP 93 wicks since each will create a wax pool of approximately 2 inches ( I think). This may work near the top, but I wonder how effectively it will be as it burns down. Any thoughts would really be appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 That is one of the most challenging types of containers to wick. If you wick for the top your candle will be a fireball at the bottom. General rule of thumb is to wick for the last 1/3 of the candle. I would be inclined to single wick just because it is so narrow at the bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashbubba Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 Thanks for your response. That does make a lot of sense. I think I'll just go with a single HTP-93 and hope for the best. Leave it to me to come up with a difficult configuration. 😏 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 The easiest container I have ever found to wick has straight sides and is about 2.5” wide. Not sure why this is the ultimate dimension, but it is. Might not be bad to grab some to get some early wins before jumping into a hard to wick jar. 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 I'd like to see a picture of that jar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashbubba Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashbubba Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 This jar measures about 4 1/8 at the top and about 2 1/8 at the burn bottom. 4 1/8 high. That is a HTP-105 sitting in the jar. I should start with simple projects. Oh no, not me. I have to jump in the deep end and overthink everything! 😣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah S Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 Pretty container! I’ve wicked something similar but smaller. Definitely wick for the bottom third. I really like that style tumbler, it makes a lovely candle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashbubba Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 Thank you Sarah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 (edited) You really did pick a tough jar for a beginner....I don't even know myself. The bottom of that jar is a votive size pretty much. A 105 and 93 definitely are not going to get a melt pool across the top of that jar. It's going to be tunneling....but I would test it anyway right up to the end even with a tunnel as maybe the wax will catch up. But then there is the possibility if you get anywhere close to 1/2 to the edges in your melt pool that the wick is going to drown out. All you can do is test. Let us know how it goes. I'm very curious myself. Do you hae another style jar picked out ?? What fragrance oil did you go with and what percentage of oil did you use? Trappeur Edited April 28, 2019 by Trappeur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashbubba Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 Trappeur, I really appreciate your response. This candle was to be a birthday gift for my son so it needed to perform. After much contemplation, I have decided to scrap this idea and go with a straight 3 in. jar. This container was actually a store bought candle. Now I wish I had examined the original design before I cleaned it up. Maybe in the future I'll attempt to tackle this project. As TallTayl said, "get some early wins before jumping into a hard to wick jar." Yep, I need some experience. Thanks again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 (edited) I'll give you some good sound advice here. I certainly WOULD NOT give any candle to anyone since you are new to candlemaking. Candle making is a very serious business. You don't know anything about your wax, how the candle behaves, not even a wick size...it could be a VERY dangerous thing to give a product to someone and have that candle be overwicked thus possibily blowing up the glass with too hot a jar - so many things could happen. People burning candles tend to walk away and forget about them for hours and an improper product made could be a house fire. Minimum of months learning about making candle needs to be under your belt BEFORE I would even think to give to someone. You need to let the wax cure for a length of time like for example soy takes 2 weeks minimum to cure and then you start testing the wick if you even have the right wick and you have to burn that candle to the bottom and this depending upon how often you light candles you burn it for the week or 2 till gone. Most likely that wick isn't going to work, so now you start over and make another candle and go through this whole process again (we're talking weeks here to test)......This is a very time consuming hobby... This is not a crafty hobby that you just stick a wick in the wax, walk away till it hardens then you go and give to someone....it just isn't. Candlemaking is serious business and you definitely are not ready to giving out candles as gifts. Don't mean to come down hard on you believe me. It's just that so many people come here and are doing the same thing you are doing not knowing a thing about candles and already wanting to give out gifts, or go into busines etc. It just iritates me to see things like this said and I sit back and just think to my self...'oh boy'...I'm sorry, I just call a spade a spade and tell it as it is... safety is #1 priority in putting out a properly made candle. Trappeur Edited April 28, 2019 by Trappeur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashbubba Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 Wow! I've just been taken to the woodshed. I do appreciate your thoughts on the matter, but you could work on your delivery. Good lord, talk about condescension. So what you're telling me is I need to give several away as gifts rather than one. Got it. Thanks. You can breathe now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 Nashbubba, we all are here to help one another and like I said in my post above I didn't want you to take my suggestion as to hurt your feelings as it wasn't meant that way as I stated but unfortunately you did. You weren't taken to the woodshed and I'm sorry you took it that way. Most people don't realize when they are starting out just what goes into making a candle. My contribution to this discussion was explaining the sheer importance of safety for everyone. Where did I say give several away as gifts, not one? Don't understand what you are talking about. Trappeur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah S Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 @nashbubba, I am very sure Trapp posted out of concern and a desire to help. Tone is so difficult to convey when typing. I really appreciate that you absorbed our feedback about that container. You would not believe (or maybe you would!) some of the wildly unsafe and negligent candle making behaviors that been posted here in the past. We tend to be a little prickly about some things, lol. I think you have the right idea to start with a straight 3" jar. Soy can look creamy and beautiful in almost any glass container, so why not make it easier on yourself? Are you going to use the HTP 105? I would suggest, and maybe you've already thought of this, make two candles and wick one with the 105 and one with the 93, and burn them compare the two. If either is a winner, then make a candle for your son, and ask him to give you feedback on how it performs too. Then do the same thing with a different fragrance, and maybe send one of them to another lucky recipient to get feedback from... That way you are testing your candles, but still able to gift as well. Gifting is my favorite part of this hobby. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonshine Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 4 hours ago, nashbubba said: Wow! I've just been taken to the woodshed. I do appreciate your thoughts on the matter, but you could work on your delivery. Good lord, talk about condescension. So what you're telling me is I need to give several away as gifts rather than one. Got it. Thanks. You can breathe now. I would like to apologize to you for that - that typically isn’t how we roll on here safety and testing are very important for obvious reasons but in your saying you wanted to make a gift for your son makes it a little different than saying you just found these jars and want to get them off to a wholesale account tomorrow - please don’t be discouraged by this and afraid to post, we are all here to help in the ways that we can and Trapp I’m sure didn’t mean to come off that harshly @Trappeur you release new jars all the time in record time - how did you get through that Easter line so fast with new jars and new oils....I would love to learn your process, we all found out the hard way experience with a wax does not play a role when your dealing with products never used before we may think we know our waxes inside and out but all bets are off when you add a new vessel, fragrance oil, wicks, additives or even dyes - takes some time to know that new candle is going to be safe I also have to ask how you keep track of and remember all the different combos that you do all the time? It amazes me you can keep them all straight with the constant fast turn around that you do 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 Yes, don't feel like you can't post here....and besides that like I said in my post I said not to think I was coming down on hard so I knew what I was typing. Maybe you didn't read that line...It's no biggy. All is good. You took it all the wrong way, that's all. And I always type in a heavy font because I have a problem seeing small print....lol Some people think that the person who types big is being a smart alec, but mine is not meant like that at all. So don't sweat the small stuff and just move on...... It can be hard at times when reading someone elses writing too and then thinking something else when it was not meant like that. So we hope you will stick around with the rest of us. We really have a great bunch here and at times really laugh. Oh Moonshine, I don't do anything different than you do in making candles. I always write down on a piece of scratch paper what percentage oils I used then tons of time I don't even do that. I had to learn to adapt ways to make candlemaking easier since I do so many. I would tell you if I had a formula, but I don't. I keep most of it in my head. lol.....but if there was some special way I would tell you, but there isn't. Yes I did move through the Easter candles pretty quick ly. It amazes me that I accomplished it myself. I just keep thinking too in the back of my mind I have to get things done and not procrastinate (which I am a big one at that). And lately with my sickness my mind is always going and I don't want to leave unfinished orders hanging so I have to push myself. And I love making candles too..it's very joyful for me. Trappeur 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashbubba Posted April 29, 2019 Author Share Posted April 29, 2019 Okay look. Obviously I'm a novice knucklehead and that's okay too. Everyone began somewhere. What little bit I know about candle making is (A) You're dealing with fire and a highly combustible wax. Remember the movie "The House of Wax" with Vincent Price? (B) It ain't as easy as I thought. I've been looking for a hobby that I might enjoy. I love the beautiful night sky and the overwhelming majesty of the cosmos, so I looked into astronomy and purchasing a telescope. Well it was a good idea, but it really wasn't practical as we all have dogs and they would wreck into the tripod then all heck would break loose. Long story short, I'm gonna make candles and you sweet people are gonna help me cause that's what you do. Please be patient. And hey Trappeur, I'm pride myself in sarcasm. If you'll re-read my post with that in mind, I have no doubt you'll get it. I think you're awesome BTW. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebleo Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t start with that jar. I did the same thing with starting out and tried to work with a tureen jar which is not one for a novice. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 @nashbubba I think you will fit in here just fine. Picturing the dogs with the tripods. 😂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandleRush Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 Yay! lets all be happy and learn from each other!🌸 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfroberts Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 Not really on topic anymore, but one tiny little thing that might help if you ever do decide to try and wick that jar....what I do with containers that narrow like that is to use wicks with the extra long tab so the candle doesn't burn as far down at the bottom. It means a little wasted wax, but it makes me feel more secure with the end burn. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trappeur Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 Great idea BF.....It's a safety thing. Trappeur 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallTayl Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 @bfroberts you could also pour a totally different hard-to-burn wax, like beeswax, to squelch the burn at the narrowed vessel neck. It too would give some “wasted” wax but would at least be “safer”. Could become a design element of pouring the beeswax over, say, glass “rocks”. Still need loads of testing but not impossible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashbubba Posted April 29, 2019 Author Share Posted April 29, 2019 14 minutes ago, TallTayl said: @bfroberts you could also pour a totally different hard-to-burn wax, like beeswax, to squelch the burn at the narrowed vessel neck. It too would give some “wasted” wax but would at least be “safer”. Could become a design element of pouring the beeswax over, say, glass “rocks”. Still need loads of testing but not impossible. Thanks TallTayl, I'm gonna scrap the tapered jar in favor of something more manageable within the 21/2 to 3 in. range with straight walls. No sense in wasting time and material on a gamble. I'm glad to be a part of this forum. I'm keeping busy watching youtube videos on candle making and reading articles. As Trappeur explained, candle making is a scientific process and I'm beginning to realize this. Baby steps, but I ain't afraid of no candle!! ☺️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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