Blackish melt pool

[asands]

Any ideas on why there would be big blackish swirls in the melt pool of undyed C3?

Thanks for sharing!

[Stella1952]

Yep. It's soot from the wick. What FO/how much, what wick/size, what container/diameter, how long did it burn?

[asands]

I think I figured out the problem. The candle was moved (while burning) and the melt pool must've come in contact with the burnt portion of the wick. I have never had this problem with this candle before so I think this must be the reason. It's a candle I've burned many, many, many times with no black stuff ever appearing. And I have not changed the formulation or wick.

I did run up the temp on the wax too much by accident right before I poured it. But I feel the most likely reason for the blackish melt pool was that the mp came in contact with the burning wick.

Does that seem to make sense Stella? To others?

[Stella1952]

Your theory is certainly plausible. If the container is burning properly down into the mid and bottom parts of the container, I think it's highly likely that the trail of soot came from your wick as you think.

[EricofAZ]

Self trimming wicks sometimes tend to leave deposits in the MP. Moving the candle can make a swirl. I have seen this with some of my test candles that were overwicked or didn't turn the tip of the wick to ash on power burns. Proper burn time with trimming prevents this, but if it went overnight and got moved later, its possible.