working with raw wicks

[Mtngrl]

I attempted a search for this subject but tons of other stuff came up , so i'm gonna start my own thread .

So, i have some raw wick .... square braid, flat ply .... of various thicknesses. I'm wondering how other people use the raw wicks, if you treat it with wax before incorporating it into the candle or wick the candle raw or whatever.

In advance, i thank you & look forward to whatever insight you might provide.

[pcbrook]

I tried putting a wick in a candle without it being primed with wax and I could not get the thing to light. I am not sure how they did it in the old days. Did they always prime the wicks in candles? If they didn't how did they get the things to burn!

[radellaf]

I use nothing but raw wicks when I can. Exception being that sometimes the only way to get a small quantity of a size is to order 5-10 pretabbed ones.

I've never found that you _have_ to prime them, but it's easy enough to do. Just put the wick in molten wax for a couple of seconds until the bubbles stop coming up and then pull it out. Snip to length, crimp on the tab, done.

Well, done if you're doing container candles.

For pillars, the difference is that unless you do repeated dips, the coating is much thinner than pretabbed wick. IF you're using wick pins and smaller wicks then depending how you finish your candles and light your wicks, you can end up with enough air space around the wick that it'll burn out on first lighting.

I'm usually just careful to use the lighter next to the wick and get the wax to melt enough to flow over and contact the wick. Or, lay the wick mostly flat before lighting so that it'll melt enough wax before it gets to the hole.

For selling, I'd either insert the wick before the re-pour (after removing the pin), either in or out of the mold, and arrange it so that I can pour a little wax, let it fill the wick pin hole, and then finish the repour. OR, you can take a hot wick pin to the top of the candle and melt a little circle around the wick. OR, you can take a pastille of, say, beeswax, and use it to plug the gap. That looks really nice with yellow beeswax and a white feather palm candle.

And before anyone (Top?) says anything, no, I usually do not use wick tabs in pillars unless I'm making a tester with one of those aforementioned sizes that only come (in sample qty) pre-tabbed. It's not sure-fire (sure non-fire?) that the pillar will go out quicker with the non-tabbed wick, and I always burn on holders where it wouldn't be a problem if the tab let it burn way down. But, my conclusion is non tabbed is safer, and why waste a tab...

Why do I use wick pins? So I can seal the wick holes in my seamless molds once (with metal outdoor, butyl masic, duct tape), and then never worry about it again. Or, if I do leave the hole open, it takes just a tiny smidge of putty to seal it. If I ran the wick through the hole, I'd need to find some way to elevate the bottom of the mold off the table to make room for the wick under the mold, and that seems like extra trouble. Plus, I get leaks too often, and hate cleaning mold putty off of wicks. I even use pins with my polycarbonate molds most of the time, after putting a rubber plug in the bottom.

[topofmurrayhill]

I find that priming raw wicking with wax is usually a waste of time because it doesn't accomplish any purpose. The main point of priming is to have some wax in the wick for easier lighting (you don't want dry unwaxed wick sticking out of the candle). As long as your candlemaking procedure ends up soaking the exposed part of the wick with wax, you don't have to do anything special.

[doglover]

I have used raw wicking primed and not. If I am making small floating candles to be used at an event which would require quick candle lighting, priming the wick will help with that. I also prime the wicks for fire starters and container candles. For pillars and tapers I do not.

As mentioned above, the only benefit I have found for priming wicks is to speed the initial lighting process.

[grama]

I do prime my raw wicks simply because the customer may not know to hold the lighter to the wick long enough for it to catch up. I don't like leaving a long wick on them because then the customer when they do get them lit have a lot of wick to be burning and make a larger flame. Does that make sense, not at my best today with sinus and guess summer cold.

[radellaf]

Well, rly, the only concrete benefit I get is that it's kinda hard to push a string through a candle. Priming it gives it at least some rigidity. Unless you prime with soy, that gives it all the structural strength of a rubber band. For containers tho I don't care how stiff the wick is. I find if it's not secured at both ends it's likely to get pulled off center in the middle even if the top and bottom are perfect.

[nursenancy]

I tab & prime my own votive wicks. I string a bunch of tabs on the raw wicking, crimp them at the appropriate interval and then prime manageable lengths in soy pillar wax. Then I cut them with a very sharp pair of scissors. It sounds like alot of work, but I've been doing it for a long time and I kind of get into a rhythm and it's not bad.

I prime them because I don't use wick pins for my votives and they have to be somewhat rigid to wick after pouring

[radellaf]

Clever, I never thought of not cutting wicks before tabbing. How do you avoid having too much wick stick out the bottom for it to sit well?

I'm also curious how you get them to stay straight after a pour, especially with soy. Are you using the same wax for the votives themselves?

I ask since I pin my votives in metal cups but would sure like to use this mold

http://cart.candlesupply.com/product.php?productid=20334&cat=370&page=1

And, in a 15 mold tray, I can't see a clear way to having something hold the wicks centered so it'd be nice to have a tip.

[radellaf]

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Edited May 12, 2010 by radellaf
where's the delete-message button?

[nursenancy]

Sorry it took me so long to reply -

After I prime the wick, I hang lengths of them and pull them straight until they cool a little. That way thay will be straight when I cut them. I usually let them hang there for a couple of days. I cut the wicks with a very sharp pair and pointed of scissors, so there is no wick at the bottom of the tab. When I pour my votives, I wait until the skin JUST starts to form around the edge of the votive and start inserting my wicks. This way the tabs stick to the wax in the bottom, and the wicks stay upright. sometimes I just have to nudge them to the center.

I've tried doing it several different ways and this method works the best for me.

HTH

Nancy