Brain picking about wick centering

[2rottndogs]

I did a search, but didn't really come up with what I was looking for... so here goes the brain picking.

I don't pour alot of candles at once... usually one jar at a time. I've been centering my wick by eye... but apparently my eye is off. I was wondering how everyone else centers their wicks when they are using just one in a jar? How do you decide placement when using 2 wicks? I'm not off by much... my customers don't even notice... but I do.

Another question.... when using 2 wicks, how do you determine what wick you're going to use? For example...when I'm testing a jar and it's 4"... do I pick 2 wicks that on their own would give me a 2" melt pool and combined would work in my 4" jar or do you pick 2 wicks that are made for a 4" jar?

God! I hope that last question made sense... in my head I understood it completely!

Kimberly

[Stella1952]

was wondering how everyone else centers their wicks when they are using just one in a jar?

I have a centering/measuring paper that has concentric circles on it, from .5 cm - 15 cm - kinda like a bullseye. I just put the jar on top of the ring and look straight down through it to center the wick. Works for many different sizes of containers from votives to big 'uns. If I did production, I would consider another method.

[grama]

When I double wick I have a template I made to use. I trace around jar and then measure where I want the wicks to go. Draw circles for the wicks and then just place my jar on top of that, it that makes sense. Makes perfect sense to me:laugh2:

[jennhalcyon]

I'm with grama...I have traced my various jars on paper and have marked wick spots. When I am pouring I tape it to the counter so I can move quickly.

[Jane42]

I started with the template, and still keep it in the drawer just in case...

Right now, the jar we use has a semi-circle impression on one edge...we double-wick these...if I put the first wick at the edge of that, then put the second wick approx 1/2" away, it seems to work.

[2rottndogs]

You guys are so smart.... template city here I come!

Kim

[islandgirl]

The Wick Setter and Wick Centering Tool are wonderful gadgets!!

Here is a link of suppliers...

http://wickcenteringtool.com/default.asp?SID=xAEPVZYDZ4SHHZ32SSEHPB&S=E3&Document=Our+Suppliers&NID=4422243

[kandlekrazy]

The Wick Setter and Wick Centering Tool are wonderful gadgets!!

Here is a link of suppliers...

http://wickcenteringtool.com/default.asp?SID=xAEPVZYDZ4SHHZ32SSEHPB&S=E3&Document=Our+Suppliers&NID=4422243

Agreed!!! You'll never look at a template again! I love my wick setters.

[Gdawg]

I'm with grama...I have traced my various jars on paper and have marked wick spots. When I am pouring I tape it to the counter so I can move quickly.

yup I traced my jars on my candle table so I just place it on there. Measured out the center and put a big dot for the bullseye mark

[2rottndogs]

Gdawg,

What you wrote was you traced your jars on your CANDLE table.... what I saw was that you traced them on your KITCHEN table.

All I could think of when I read that was, " that must be attractive when company comes over". LOL

Everyone's got great ideas and I'm going to try them all to see what works best for me at this point. Would love to have a set area where I could just trace things on a table, but that's not possible right now...maybe some day.

Kimberly

[Gdawg]

lol oh yeah not my kitchen table....if no area set aside then yeah I would do it on paper or a small piece of wood or something.

[Lantern Light Mama]

I've found with my limited double wicking experience, that you can probably even wick down further that your 2 inch plus 2 inch melt pools = 4 inch candle. Otherwise your glass will get too hot. The radiant heat from both flames will melt more wax in general, so you don't have to wick "mathematically". I used to use a template, but now I do it by eye. I turn the jar upside down and press the wick into place based on the bottom of the jar. This is much more exact than trying to do it from the top.

[kandlekrazy]

Just curious what do you do when you can't see through a jar? My jars are frosted and have about 3/4" thick base and you can't see through them, then there are the tins...that's why I went to the wick setter in the first place. Plus it just seemed to take so much time with the template even in clear jars that it was well worth the $20.

[2rottndogs]

LLM,

I did wick down to cd 8s instead of cd 10s, but I don't quite get the melt pool I want and I have cling on the jar. CD 10s get too hot, so I'm trying other wicks now. I just figured now that I'm testing other wicks... maybe my thoughts on how to double wick were off... I'm glad to see that was one thing I got right.

So far I'm happy with the testing I'm doing and I think I'm on the right track with everyone's advice.

Kimberly

[SoycialGirl]

Hello, I'm new to this board, I'll jump right in.

I use the EZ wicksetter and bow-tie setters. Setters rock!

Paige

[Stella1952]

LLM,

I did wick down to cd 8s instead of cd 10s, but I don't quite get the melt pool I want and I have cling on the jar.

Kimberly, did you melt the jars ALL the way down?

[2rottndogs]

Hi SSSSTTTEEELLLAAAAA (Sorry, can't resist doing that)

I have melted my jars all the way down and I still get some cling on the sides... it's not much, but it's enough for me to say that it's not melting properly.

It's like I almost need one wick of each in the jar... I'm close but no cigar. Although I did dig out my LXs and my RRDs... so far I'm having really good luck with those and my just change my wicks over after a couple more test jars. And one other thing, the more I pour, test and work at... the more I'm able to pick a wick that's close to what I need instead of doing what I did when I first started out... 1 hundred million test jars to get the right wick for the one jar.

I'm probably just being too picky. My clients are all satisfied, great smell... jars burn great for them... no complaints about wax cling... I seem to be the only one not quite happy with the finished product. So I guess I could say I'm at a point where now I'm fine tuning.

Kimberly

[Stella1952]

2Rotten, you rang?

For commercial purposes, I think I would rather wick for a leedle hangup (so long as the hot throw is good) rather than overwick even slightly. My reasoning is to err on the side of less heat and more safety (and less liability exposure) for complete idiots who shouldn't be allowed to possess fire in the first place...:rolleyes2 Most candles I have purchased don't burn NEARLY as well as ours do and they are always vastly underwicked if memory serves me well (I don't buy many candles any more).

KK, I think you and the other wicksetter fans have the right idea. I started with a template, so that's what I use, but I can testify that flat templates are VERY inefficient. The issue of opaque containers puts one right back to square one. There IS a wicksetter in my near future! I have a feeling that I could rip through wicking jars with one of those... I HATE wicking, so anything that makes it go quicker and still places the wick on-center sounds like the hot set-up to me! I love the bowties also. They have their limitations, but thus far, they have adapted to the containers I have used.

[kandlekrazy]

There IS a wicksetter in my near future! I have a feeling that I could rip through wicking jars with one of those... I HATE wicking, so anything that makes it go quicker and still places the wick on-center sounds like the hot set-up to me! I love the bowties also. They have their limitations, but thus far, they have adapted to the containers I have used.

You will love it for round jars, it has saved me hours and I don't mind wicking a bit now. Robert also modified one for me for my square jars and square tins...(thanks to the suggestion by a member here!) what a lifesaver, those buggers were gonna kill me since I couldn't see through either one to make a template!