Pillar questions

[sawdustcottage]

I have been making container candles for years (using J223) and have had requests for pillar candles lately. I have never attempted to make these before (only little votives). I will be using seamless aluminum molds (round).

I have read and re-read the instructions provided here for pillars and have a couple questions-

The relief holes say this: "The relief holes should be positioned around the wick as shown and should be poked to a depth of about 1 inch less than the depth of the candle". Does this mean you poke 1" down? Or stick the wax far into the pillar 1" from nearly the bottom of the mold? Are the seamless aluminum good? I had heard they were easy to work with.

And wick pins? Is there a reason for them (it appears you use the wick while making the candle). I can see why I use them with my votives but not sure if I needed to get these.

Any info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Lori

[Tallbabydoll]

Arent people funny. They always want what you dont have. I started with pillars. People requested votives, so I started making those. When I actually got testing done and got comfortable enough to sell those, people started asking for containers. LOL A friend sent me some container wax, and that was enough to tell me that I'm gonna stick with what I already know.

Ok for the relief holes, they mean to poke all the way down to within 1" from the top of the candle/bottom of the mold. You dont want to go to far and touch whats going to be the top of your candle. I personally dont poke that far, only about half way down, but that's up to you. I am not going to advise against those instruction cuz the author has been doing this way longer than I have. You'll find that candlemaking in general is a very individualized craft. What works for most might not work the best for you. You need to view instructions more like guidelines, then make them your own.

Both seamed and seamless molds are both good, with their own advantages/disadvantages. Some people hate dealing with the seam so they like the seamless, and I believe it's easier to get a rustic finish using this type of mold. But they get knocked over easier because there is no base. It's also more difficult to use wick pins which are used on the outside on pillars. There's instructions posted on the use of those. Just run a search.

The advantage of using wickpins is you know you'll have a straight and centered wick, just like with votives. I personally just got some pillar wick pins myself after years of not using them. I found that even though I had the wick taught, and it looked centered at the top, once I started burning the pillars, the wick was not centered all the way down. It was almost always bent in the middle so it was burning closer to one side as the candle burned down. Plus it saves time using a pin, so you dont have to worry about wicking the mold. Now I'll just throw a tabbed wick in after the candle is finished. HTH

[sawdustcottage]

Thank you for the info. I have to look for information on the wick pin/seamless aluminum pillar issue (An issue for me - LOL.

I didn't see anything on it when I read the "Pillar "Instructions, but then again, I more likely missed it.

Now I am scared about the aluminum being knocked over. (Maybe I should stick with my container candles...... I know what I am doing there).