candlemom Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Good afternoon:grin2: I was so excited, I made my first pillars. YEA!!!! Now getting them to burn right, that is a different story. Researched different wicks and decided to give flatbraid a try. The one pillar is 4.5 X 4.5, it was suggested that I start with 36 ply. I did and it looks like it is burning kind of funky. Like one side is burning and the others are not. Or is this normal? See picture:[ATTACH]4922[/ATTACH]I made another one same size and after burning it for 4 hours over the last 5 days, this is the way it looks.[ATTACH]4920[/ATTACH]I also made 2 other smaller pillars- Both are 3.5X3. They seem to be burning well except for one side seems to be "melting" faster than the other, leaving kind of a wall. [ATTACH]4921[/ATTACH]Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,Theresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Typical of the wick as it tends to lean. As for the 36 in a 4x mold, looks like it doesn't work. Walls are too thick for my liking. JMO. Would suggest going up as there are 45 and 60 ply wicks out there. Or try a different wick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlemom Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 Thanks Scented. I don't like the walls of the 4.5X4.5 pillar either. I tried the 45 raw ply wick and that was definately a hassle since my mold doesn't have a wick hole at the bottom. I coated the wick with wax and made more of a mess and still had the time of my life attempting to thread the wick up through the candle. Then when I finally got it, I ended up with a huge 4 inch flame- too high for me. I seem to have the worse time with raw wick. I ran across some info about htp wicks used in pillars- so I ordered a sample pack from Peaks- so we will see if that works better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvcandleguy Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 If you are wanting to stay with the flat braid, you mite want to bump it up a notch.. I would also consider trying the square braid.. maybe a #2 or #3.... JMHO... also looks like you mite have the wick just slightly offcenter... but for your first ones they look pretty darn good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzie Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 I love the flat braids but as Scented said, they will lean as they burn so have to be straightened with a knife or something to re-centre them. I have just started priming my wicks (I only buy raw) in beeswax as it has a higher mp than my paraffin pillar and that seems to help them stay straighter tremendously. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 Are those soy pillars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustpuuppy Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 Certainly better than my first attempt.I was going to suggest trying a square braid, too, but I was thinking more along the lines of a #1 or a #2. Since WVGuy is saying #2 or #3, you might want to start with a #2 and see where you're at.You might consider getting an EZ Wick setter for that mold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 Now see I'd probably stick the #3 in first and work around that lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustpuuppy Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 Now see I'd probably stick the #3 in first and work around that lol!Heh.You may be right. For me, a 1/0 Square burned almost exactly the same as a 30ply flat. I was trying to extrapolate from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlemom Posted February 22, 2006 Author Share Posted February 22, 2006 Thanks everyone for all your help. I am not sure if I want to stay with flat braid or not. I had the hardest time trying to thread the booger through the wick hole in the candle. If I could find them pre-waxed and precut, I would be in heaven. wvcandleguy- thanks for suggesting square braid. I was wondering if it was just me or if my wick actually looked off centered to anyone else.Mozzie- I have never thought of using beeswax to prime my raw wicks. I will have to try that and see if that helps.topofmurrayhill- Yes they are soy pillars- I forgot to include that info in my first post. dustpuupy- I will look into getting an EZ Wick Setter- I have heard very good comments about them. I am off to find someone that has a sampler pack of square braid. I will have to try the beeswax and see how that works in my soy pillars. I have ordered a sample pack of HTP wicks and they should be coming today. Anyone else use htp in pillars? I have ran across some sites that suggest using htp in pillars, but most say use in container candles. I will have to get some square braid and test those and the htps and see what works.Thanks,Theresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topofmurrayhill Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 I love flat braid wicking and it works well in soy. There are lots of flat braids you can buy as assemblies. LX, CD, HTP, ECO are all popular. They're also designed to be stiffer than plain-vanilla plaited wick so you don't have to resort to cored wick and yucky mushrooms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheilaW Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 If you want to stay with the flat braid wicking, a little trick to keep a straight burn is after you tape your wick in place on the bottom (top) of the mold then grab the other end of the wick and start twisting until it's fairly tight. Secure it. What happens is that as the candle burns the wick slowly unravels and burns evenly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rsvlbrat Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 If you want to stay with the flat braid wicking, a little trick to keep a straight burn is after you tape your wick in place on the bottom (top) of the mold then grab the other end of the wick and start twisting until it's fairly tight. Secure it. What happens is that as the candle burns the wick slowly unravels and burns evenly.What a great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlemom Posted February 22, 2006 Author Share Posted February 22, 2006 The UPS man just delivered my HTP wicks- YEA!!! Sheila- that is a neat idea- I will have to try that- thanks:grin2: I am going to play around with the HTP's- wish me luck:D Thanks again everyone for such great advice,Theresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharyl55 Posted February 23, 2006 Share Posted February 23, 2006 If you want to try SB wicking, Peaks has several sizes in 100 ft lengths. That's as close to a sample pack as I was able to find. Heard LoneStar had some kind of super wick sampler pack. Never checked it out. Good Luck I'm working thru pillar test burns and understand how confusing it can be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugenia Posted February 23, 2006 Share Posted February 23, 2006 I do the wick twist as well and it does work, however, you said you cannot pre-wick, correct? This only works when you pour the pillar wicked. I did learn this from Sheila; we are twisted sisters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candlemom Posted February 23, 2006 Author Share Posted February 23, 2006 Twisted sisters- that is just too cute:D Sharyl55- thanks for suggesting those companies. I use to order from Lonestar all the time when I first starting making container candles. Eugenia- the 4.5X4.5 molds, they do not have wick holes. But I have several other molds that all have the wick holes, so I will try the twist on those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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