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Why is my wax pulling away from the wick?


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Hi all,

 

I'm relatively new to candle making and recently discovered this amazing forum. I've been trying to comb through previous posts but couldn't find anything on this, so apologies if this is repeated somewhere.

 

I've been noticing that as the wax dries in my container candles, it's doing this odd thing where it's pulling away from the wick. I'm using IGI 6006, pouring at 170 F, adding FO from Candle Science (White Tea at 10% and Cactus Jade at 8%), and using ECO 2 for the votive and ECO 8 for the larger container. This wax/wick issue has affected mostly the small 2.5oz votives, but it happened for the first time on the larger 8.5oz Libbey jar too. This hasn't happened with any of the other waxes I've tried so not sure what I'm doing wrong here! Thank you in advance for any help.

 

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Shrinkage. 
wax expands a bit when hot, and shrinks back when it cools.

 

if you look closely, you can see the top has sunken down from the pouring level. The outside and top surfaces cool most quickly, and the middle takes some time to catch up. The top has to respond by either sinking, or creating air cavities below the surface. simetimes both things happen in the same candle 

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Ahh yes..I just hadn't experienced this with other wax before but that makes a lot of sense.

 

Would I be able to remedy with using a heat gun or would you recommend a better way to get a level surface? Thank you so much for the help (on this post and throughout the forum!)

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1 hour ago, fruit.tart said:

Ahh yes..I just hadn't experienced this with other wax before but that makes a lot of sense.

 

Would I be able to remedy with using a heat gun or would you recommend a better way to get a level surface? Thank you so much for the help (on this post and throughout the forum!)

I would heat gun it personally. If the level is too low, a second pour would work too. Though sometimes second pours leave a visible line through the glass. Some waxes (looking at you a SOY) can crack on the surface from uneven cooling. 
 

glad I could help. Stay awesome. 

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