Wick pins and securing in wick afterwards?

[victoriaj]

Hi, i have just switched to using wick pins when making pillar and votive candles. But after they are made and it comes to threading the wick through the hole left, how do you secure them to make sure the wicks cannot fall out?

Thanks very much:highfive:

[Jane42]

Not sure about the pillars, but our old votive wicks needed to be heated up (we used a lighter, heated the area between the wick and the tab, then pushed it up and held it with the eraser of a pencil). Now, we use the LX10's with the higher tab - the tab itself holds the wick in place.

I am sure plenty others will chime in with their tricks!

Jane

[Candlelovr]

Yeah, my wick tabs hold them in place just fine.

[victoriaj]

Thanks for the replies, i do use pre tabbed wicks but they still seem to fall out, i'll try the lighter method. Thanks

[Jane42]

Thanks for the replies, i do use pre tabbed wicks but they still seem to fall out, i'll try the lighter method. Thanks

Even tho my business partner had no trouble using the lighter, I found that I would tend to hold the it a bit longer than needed....and burn through the wick. It worked best for me if I just aimed the flame on the wick tab, heated that up then pushed the heated tab into the wax with the eraser. Still was a PIA....LOL Good Luck!

[Sag_77]

I found the lighter method to be time consuming and a PITA. I went to a thrift store and found myself and old electric griddle. Now I can do up a batch of votives and quickly seal the wick in, works great even for large orders. HTH

[NewOrleansLady]

I use a soldering gun...turn votive upside down, push gun into the "hole" of the tab and the melted wax comes up thru the hole and the entire tab gets covered in about 5 seconds. I had thought about a griddle but was afraid it would smoke too much..glad to hear it works good.

[topofmurrayhill]

Thanks for the replies, i do use pre tabbed wicks but they still seem to fall out, i'll try the lighter method. Thanks

You might need tabs with a slightly longer neck. The 6mm ones seem to stay in OK using the thin votive pins. For pillars it could be better to find a way to secure the wick without the tab. The tab can often keep the wick upright and burning until there's nothing but a paper thin layer of wax underneath it. Not the safest thing.

[Sag_77]

I just keep it on the lowest setting and it is fine. DH while moving things around has bumped it and I didn't notice then YES it smokes. But he does the same thing to my presto pot, he just has to learn to not touch my stuff even if it is in the way.

[NewOrleansLady]

You might need tabs with a slightly longer neck. The 6mm ones seem to stay in OK using the thin votive pins. For pillars it could be better to find a way to secure the wick without the tab. The tab can often keep the wick upright and burning until there's nothing but a paper thin layer of wax underneath it. Not the safest thing.

If you use a tab with a longer neck you then have a votive that leaves about 1/2" of wax in the bottom of the holder and it looks quite unprofessional.

[topofmurrayhill]

If you use a tab with a longer neck you then have a votive that leaves about 1/2" of wax in the bottom of the holder and it looks quite unprofessional.

It's really shouldn't with a 6mm tab. When I use those it burns to the bottom.

[candlesprite7]

How about inserting the wick and tab before you level the pillar? then when you are leveling the pillar the hot wax will seal the tab and wick.

[Margaritamama]

How about inserting the wick and tab before you level the pillar? then when you are leveling the pillar the hot wax will seal the tab and wick.

I do the above, but without the tab. I just leave about 1/2 inch of wick sticking out the bottom of the candle, then when I level, the wax gets sucked up the hole, and seals off the bottom.