IGI 6006 Wick Test - Mushrooming?

[JesLyn]

This is my first wick test with IGI 6006. I'm using a 16 oz apothecary jar - 3.9" diameter, double wicked with ECO 2 wicks. 6% FO, no additives other than 2 drops of blue dye. After 2 hours, the melt pool looks good, the flames are not too big or too small, no soot, the HT is wonderful. BUT my wicks are mushrooming a bit. At first it was just the one wick, but then the other started doing the same. 

 

Does anyone have any advice? Open to any ideas or suggestions. Thank you.

 

Also, when I poured this candle, I needed to treat it with my heat gun do to a HUGE sinkhole. I made 2 test candles and they both had huge sinkholes. No big deal to fix, but I thought this wax was supposed to be a single pour wax? (Thoughts on that?)

[bfroberts]

You have to experiment with pour temp and cooling rate to prevent holes. I pour around 160 and insulate to cool. It isn't hard to prevent holes in that container, but you do need to make sure they cool slowly.  Just a cardboard box placed over the candles as they cool works great.  As for wicking, I aim for the wicks to self-trim with no mushrooms.  Curing for a couple of weeks prior to burning works out a lot of the kinks.  After a good cure, if you are still experiencing mushrooming and the wicks aren't self-trimming, there are several things you can try.....wick down, less FO, less dye, or a different wick series altogether.

[JesLyn]

Thank you. I cured for 6 days. I have a second candle that I poured at the same time that I'll test next week to see if there are any improvements. Can't really wick down from ECO 2 with this candle. Would hate to have to add less FO as it's a decent amount and not over done, and 2 drops dye for 16.5 oz of wax makes a great color so hoping not to have to adjust the coloring too much. So it seems maybe a different wick series might be my answer. Any suggestions on where to start would be great. I'm not married to the idea of double wicking, too, so a single wick recommendation would be just as good. 

 

I'm updating with a photo of what my candle looks like after a full 4 hour burn. 

 

I poured this one at around 160 - but using the cardboard trick is a great idea. Thanks for the advice.

[bfroberts]

You can try wicking down to Eco 1 if you have those, but the 2's will probably work better after a little more cure time.  Otherwise, CD, zinc, HTP, LX all work well in this wax.  Zincs are nice doubled because they don't curl, and usually they don't mushroom or require trimming if sized conservatively.  I'd test 36z first and go up from there if necessary.

[JesLyn]

So I couldn't find ECO 1 with a long enough wick. I decided to pick up a variety of CDs to try those (CD 3, 4 & 6 to double wick). But I'm certain that the ECO 2 double wicked was burning too hot. 

 

Thanks for advice. I'll update in a few weeks once I'm able to do proper burn tests.

[TallTayl]

I found a big difference between cd3 and cd4 in various double wicking tests.  Cd3 would fizzle out while cd4 would look like an eco2. Maddening. 
 

I would give CDN a shot too. Candle cocoon, sixteen seventeen, etc carry a nice range of CDN. Both are tabbed with nice long length for plenty of tests.

 

also, I would be inclined to move the wicks closer together.