New HPSP wicks?

[NightLight]

Have not tried those, but don’t personally like them. Also don’t be afraid of mixing waxes. So if coco 83 not doing it for you, add some soy or paraffin and get the blend you want. I have personally found that not one wax is perfect and all of them need something. You may have to adjust for certain fragrance.

[TallTayl]

I personally dislike traditional cored wicks, especially zinc. 

[MsPeachesDelight]

20 hours ago, NightLight said:

Have not tried those, but don’t personally like them. Also don’t be afraid of mixing waxes. So if coco 83 not doing it for you, add some soy or paraffin and get the blend you want. I have personally found that not one wax is perfect and all of them need something. You may have to adjust for certain fragrance.

100%!  I’ve been reading so much about mixing and took advice from all of you talented makers ❤️I’m currently playing around with coco83 and MP117.  
 

I want to try beeswax and coco83 with a bit of paraffin. I’ve tried SP487, but I wasn’t 100% happy with it. 

[MsPeachesDelight]

I’m a little ashamed of asking, but I’ll ask anyway!  Does anyone offer wicking consulting? I enjoy the entire candle-making process except for wicking. I’m having a hard time with wicking, and at this point, I would much rather hire someone who is highly knowledgeable to help me. 

[TallTayl]

21 minutes ago, MsPeachesDelight said:

I’m a little ashamed of asking, but I’ll ask anyway!  Does anyone offer wicking consulting? I enjoy the entire candle-making process except for wicking. I’m having a hard time with wicking, and at this point, I would much rather hire someone who is highly knowledgeable to help me. 

A few wick wholesalers have offered those services. A partner of mine used a lab - I forget which - and was not super happy with the results. 
 

so much depends on the individual variables of wax (including type and lot), container (size, shape, material), fragrance, color, etc.. most of us here are happy to help get you into the ballpark, the rest will be fine tuning for your specific variables.  
 

coco83 has changed so much from the beginning and now from lot to lot it is like a completely different wax with every shipment. As you invest time into testing, learning the wax and wicks, choosing a winning wick becomes easier. Understanding how the wax burns from your lots, with your other variables, makes choosing additives easier.
 

many of us who loved the old coco83 have cycled through beeswax, soy, palm, paraffin and combos of all to tune our wax lots. As you know soys come in many different formulations, as do palm, paraffin and even beeswax varies from lot to lot, seller to seller. What we advise may or may not work, but can get you in a good direction. 
 

for coco83, the common theme that works for me is to think small. Small wicks work best in my jars.  No wax performs well in all containers. We sometimes have to choose a path that the wax wants, versus a jar to make a wax work on, if that makes sense. Coco83 seems to prefer jars that are 2.5-3” wide and taller than wide. But not overly tall as the last 1/3 can make the whole system fail. 
 

invest in sample packs of wicks. In my cases of wax, depending on the fragrance, eco, cd, CDN, RRD, premier, bleached square, paper core, etc might work.  
 

for coco83 out of the box, small CDN or eco are often decent. Blending beeswax changed the viscosity of the wax, and may need premier or eco. Soy may need CDN, cd, eco or premier. Take your time to really observe the way each wick burns and how your wax performs.  You’re early in the learning stages.  Take advice from YouTube, Facebook and here as a starting point and judge the results with your own eyes.  Most places that claim to be perfect wicking don’t ever show pics or videos after first lighting. They NEVER show the end of the candle, or show temp, flames, or melt throughout the entire life of the burn. 

[MsPeachesDelight]

8 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

A few wick wholesalers have offered those services. A partner of mine used a lab - I forget which - and was not super happy with the results. 
 

so much depends on the individual variables of wax (including type and lot), container (size, shape, material), fragrance, color, etc.. most of us here are happy to help get you into the ballpark, the rest will be fine tuning for your specific variables.  
 

coco83 has changed so much from the beginning and now from lot to lot it is like a completely different wax with every shipment. As you invest time into testing, learning the wax and wicks, choosing a winning wick becomes easier. Understanding how the wax burns from your lots, with your other variables, makes choosing additives easier.
 

many of us who loved the old coco83 have cycled through beeswax, soy, palm, paraffin and combos of all to tune our wax lots. As you know soys come in many different formulations, as do palm, paraffin and even beeswax varies from lot to lot, seller to seller. What we advise may or may not work, but can get you in a good direction. 
 

for coco83, the common theme that works for me is to think small. Small wicks work best in my jars.  No wax performs well in all containers. We sometimes have to choose a path that the wax wants, versus a jar to make a wax work on, if that makes sense. Coco83 seems to prefer jars that are 2.5-3” wide and taller than wide. But not overly tall as the last 1/3 can make the whole system fail. 
 

invest in sample packs of wicks. In my cases of wax, depending on the fragrance, eco, cd, CDN, RRD, premier, bleached square, paper core, etc might work.  
 

for coco83 out of the box, small CDN or eco are often decent. Blending beeswax changed the viscosity of the wax, and may need premier or eco. Soy may need CDN, cd, eco or premier....

thank you for this! Candle making is a science that's for damn sure. 

 

I'm attaching a pic of my clay vessel. The outer diameter is about 3.3inches and The inner diameter is about 2.8”  height is 3.2” 

 

I have a few waxes. Aside from coco83, I have WWco’s coco creme wax (which I've heard is like ec26), WWco’s Hemp Soy, bw917, I have a bit of midwestern soy left, MP117, beeswax and 4630. 

I love blending waxes; it's my favourite part!

 

Is there a wax that performs better in clay vessels? Or what really matters is the diameter and height  of the vessel? 

 

[TallTayl]

31 minutes ago, MsPeachesDelight said:

thank you for this! Candle making is a science that's for damn sure. 

 

I'm attaching a pic of my clay vessel. The outer diameter is about 3.3inches and The inner diameter is about 2.8”  height is 3.2” 

 

I have a few waxes. Aside from coco83, I have WWco’s coco creme wax (which I've heard is like ec26), WWco’s Hemp Soy, bw917, I have a bit of midwestern soy left, MP117, beeswax and 4630. 

I love blending waxes; it's my favourite part!

 

Is there a wax that performs better in clay vessels? Or what really matters is the diameter and height  of the vessel? 

 

I make ceramic jars and learned that the material takes a bit to heat up (slow upper formation of melt pool) but retains heat (deeper sustained later melt pool). 
 

i would wick that size with about a cdn 5 or 6 depending on the fragrance and the particular wax.
 

if I were to blend, of your waxes listed I’d go with Midwest at anywhere from 5-25% if it needed help to not get out of control through the burn. Though one batch of Coco83 I have worked flawlessly with a 50:50 proportion Midwest and Coco83. That Coco83 was very weird, greasy and didn’t melt to clear at any point. The 2 waxes have shortcomings that the other made up for. It was a magic blend. Cd wicks worked really well in it. 

here’s one I have going now that is made with an ancient lot of ecosoya pillar blend that was no longer burnable out of the box.

the jar is bellied out which makes Wicking a nightmare. 3.5” at widest. 3.5 or so tall. 
 

I blended with 1/3 cotton seed oil l, and double wicked with premier 735. The flames are smaller than what I am used to, but it has been a power burner never getting above 130*f. Throws like a champ. 
first light. 

 

After 3 days of power burning 12+ hours. 

[MsPeachesDelight]

22 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

I make ceramic jars and learned that the material takes a bit to heat up (slow upper formation of melt pool) but retains heat (deeper sustained later melt pool). 
 

i would wick that size with about a cdn 5 or 6 depending on the fragrance and the particular wax.
 

if I were to blend, of your waxes listed I’d go with Midwest at anywhere from 5-25% if it needed help to not get out of control through the burn. Though one batch of Coco83 I have worked flawlessly with a 50:50 proportion Midwest and Coco83. That Coco83 was very weird, greasy and didn’t melt to clear at any point. The 2 waxes have shortcomings that the other made up for. It was a magic blend. Cd wicks worked really well in it. 

here’s one I have going now that is made with an ancient lot of ecosoya pillar blend that was no longer burnable out of the box.

the jar is bellied out which makes Wicking a nightmare. 3.5” at widest. 3.5 or so tall. 
 

I blended with 1/3 cotton seed oil l, and double wicked with premier 735. The flames are smaller than what I am used to, but it has been a power burner never getting above 130*f. Throws like a champ. 
first light. 

 

After 3 days of power burning 12+ hours. 

Damn. That looks good!! Do you prefer double wicking? 

 

And yes, I keep reading how inconsistent coco83 is! What a pain. Cotton Seed Oil! Interesting! Speaking of  I've thought about adding jojoba oil, but still not 100% sure whether that'd be a good idea or not, since I haven't read anyone using it in candle making.  I use it in my skincare formulations and have been verrrrrry tempted to throw some in my candle blends.

 

 

[TallTayl]

I prefer single wicking. Sometimes, though, hard to burn waxes in bigger containers just require it. Single wicking this jar with this wax combo would have created a tall, soot prone flame. 
 

I’ve experimented with a number of oils and beauty additives. Learned a LOT. Personally, jojoba is too precious to me. I tried cottonseed based on old, discontinued popular wax formulas using it. And because the original crisco was hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Old crisco burned well. And cottonseed oil is cheap enough at soapers choice to try. It’s doing well!

 

some day I’ll get back to testing different oils to compare the outcomes. Unsaturated oils all have drawbacks, namely instability, rancidity, etc

[MsPeachesDelight]

34 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

I prefer single wicking. Sometimes, though, hard to burn waxes in bigger containers just require it. Single wicking this jar with this wax combo would have created a tall, soot prone flame. 
 

I’ve experimented with a number of oils and beauty additives. Learned a LOT. Personally, jojoba is too precious to me. I tried cottonseed based on old, discontinued popular wax formulas using it. And because the original crisco was hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Old crisco burned well. And cottonseed oil is cheap enough at soapers choice to try. It’s doing well!

 

some day I’ll get back to testing different oils to compare the outcomes. Unsaturated oils all have drawbacks, namely instability, rancidity, etc

 

It's a shame that crisco isn't the same as it used to be -- I was tempted to try it, but later read it's no longer hydrogenated cotton seed oil.  As for adding oils, what's a good percentage range? 5-10.. or higher?

[TallTayl]

2 hours ago, MsPeachesDelight said:

 

It's a shame that crisco isn't the same as it used to be -- I was tempted to try it, but later read it's no longer hydrogenated cotton seed oil.  As for adding oils, what's a good percentage range? 5-10.. or higher?

That completely depends on the wax you’re starting with. I would not add a liquid wax to Coco 83 but in the case of my old pillar blend where the flakes were so crispy they would barely melt I started at 5% and increased until I found a level that worked

[MsPeachesDelight]

16 hours ago, TallTayl said:

That completely depends on the wax you’re starting with. I would not add a liquid wax to Coco 83 but in the case of my old pillar blend where the flakes were so crispy they would barely melt I started at 5% and increased until I found a level that worked

Thank you! 

[Candlefriends]

With coco wax, I use small CD/CDN (like 6 or 7 in most cases) for a 3" diameter. Premier 700's are my next go to, followed by HTP wicks. 

[TallTayl]

16 hours ago, Candlefriends said:

With coco wax, I use small CD/CDN (like 6 or 7 in most cases) for a 3" diameter. Premier 700's are my next go to, followed by HTP wicks. 

For some reason CDN are a super choice for many coco blends I use. The tiny sizes do a great job without the initial flaring, carbon heading and subsequent soot. They also are not as prone to a layer of grey debris on the surface like most other series.  I stopped testing premier when all hell broke loose during the 2020/2021 shortages. I’m so glad I picked up the series again as often the wicks from my collection are outperforming the CDN in nearly all blends, including soy blends, especially when multi wicking. I’m loving burning my test candles again! Hoping the new set expected in my mail box today are of the same yarn/quality as the originals I’ve been testing.  I’ll be incredibly disappointed if they too have changed.
 

the only wax blend I’m struggling to find a premier for is ceda cerica.  Could be the fragrance I’m using, but they all start off perfect, then slowly but surely dim and nearly stuff out. For that type, the filtec rigid curl seem to be much better choices.  I just hate off center melt pools with curled wicks so much. Ultra core, also by filtec, don’t work nearly as well, and burn as dirty as all other series.