Testing Votives

[gingerinarkansas]

I use glass votive cups to pour votives in and I also use the same ones to test in. Should I be using a more universal votive cup that most people would have access to to do the testing in? Is a larger diameter votive cup going to have the same results as a tight fitting? Ginger

[Candlelovr]

You should be using the same ones that the public would use. Make your votives in a votive mold and then put it in a tight fitting votive holder.

[gingerinarkansas]

So all these votives I tested in the past could be miswicked? I have never had any complaints or returned. Ginger

[Georgia]

What size holder are you pouring in? If you are pouring in a 3 oz flower pot votive holder and testing in that, you should be fine. Of course, if your customer tries to stuff it in a standard votive holder, they will have trouble. You really shouldn't burn a standard 2 oz votive in a 3 oz flower pot holder...the holder needs to fit the votive.

I do make both sizes and make sure people know that they need the standard or the jumbo holder depending on which votive they choose.

[gingerinarkansas]

I spent alot of time looking for glass votive cups to use as molds that would fit most votive cups. It is a 2 oz. oyster cup, tapered at the bottom and wider at the top. It fits in all votive cups I have tried....some votive cups not being as tight a fit as others. I had read somewhere that if you don't have a tight fitting votive cup, to add a little water in the bottom of cup which forms sort of a vaccuum to aid in burning. I have never tried this. Has anyone ever heard of this? One time I sold some votives to some guys at work. I guess they new nothing about burning candles. The next day they came to work and told me they didn't burn very long and just went flat. After discussing their burning process, I found out they had stuck the votive on a small plate and lit it. No wonder it didn't burn long. Ginger

[MindyHarrell]

I was curious if when you made your votives if your wick tab sinks all the way or if you can't see the tab when you look from the bottom? I just made my first batch and I was wondering if I did something wrong. The wicks did not go all the way to the bottom of mold.

[Candlelovr]

Are you not using wick pins?

[gingerinarkansas]

I use wick pins but I have seen candles before that you couldn't see any. I guess they let them set up a little on the bottom and then put the wicks in. I guess that would eliminate burning to the bottom if you ran out of wick before you did wax. Does that make sense? Ginger

[MindyHarrell]

I did not use wick pins I followed the basic directions off of the candle tech site. Which one burns better?

[gingerinarkansas]

As long as the wick pins are straight, they give you a nice straight wick without alot of hassel. It also makes it easy to wick them with different size wicks when you are doing testing. You can usually just eyeball them to see if they are straight...if not just gently bend in the right direction to straighten them.

[sharyl55]

Ginger, I always add 1/2 tsp of water to my votive holder before burning a votive. It makes clean up easier and keeps the glass from getting so hot on bottom. I have that as part of my use / warning votive labels.

[SheilaW]

So all these votives I tested in the past could be miswicked? I have never had any complaints or returned. Ginger

Okay, I'm confused. What was the question?

[Hope]

I think the original question was this..

Should I be using a more universal votive cup that most people would have access to to do the testing in? Is a larger diameter votive cup going to have the same results as a tight fitting?

Then, wove on...

I'm going to take a stab at this b/c I like votives...

I spent alot of time looking for glass votive cups to use as molds that would fit most votive cups. It is a 2 oz. oyster cup, tapered at the bottom and wider at the top. It fits in all votive cups I have tried....some votive cups not being as tight a fit as others.

I think you may have a difficult time finding the ideal glass votive container to use as a mold for a votive that would fit most votive containers. Hmmm... long sentence. IMO, you will most likely be better off buying the metal votive molds for a 2 oz. votive. That is, than using a glass votive container for a mold.

IMO, here's why... Just digging around in my votive testing containers, I grab three straight sided ones. One is a footed Libbey, a Crisa, and one that mysteriously has showed up some time ago. All three have different diameter openings. Their diameters look the same at first glance. The Crisa is the only one of the three without a lip thingy (a lip would disallow a votive to pop out if used as a mold). But, it has a larger diameter opening than the other two. So, a votive made from that one won't fit in the other two votive glasses.

On a side note, I think the terms, pins & tabs were used interchangeably here.