New to candle making

[davidmyless]

Hi there I'm new to candle making and I was wondering if the people on this form could answer some questions for me.
How to prevent sinkholes with my candles?
How to properly perform a test burn?
How big should my wick be with each candle?

 

[Ford]

Hi, not into candles. But those are excellent question. For the search engine. Little magnifying glass, up right corner.
I have pulled up a lot of good articles/answers this way. Also, YouTube University as a lot of good vids. Good luck.

 

[jcandleattic]

Hi there I'm new to candle making and I was wondering if the people on this form could answer some questions for me.
How to prevent sinkholes with my candles?
How to properly perform a test burn?
How big should my wick be with each candle?

Preventing sink holes will depend on your wax, and what type of candles you are making.
If you are using a container candle wax, to prevent sink holes, pour cooler. However, some waxes are just prone to sink holes and you will to poke relief holes and pour a refill layer.

To properly wick test is tricky. You have to do several to know you have the right wick, and again will depend on type of wax and container you are using. I typically do 3 main tests in EACH candle, so for 3 candles, I will do it this way
First candle - the correct way to burn a candle - x amount of hours per diameter, extinguishing, trimming the wick, etc.,
Second candle I will do a power burn - light it and let it burn for 8-10 hours or more.
Third candle I will burn in short burst burns - 10-15 minutes, an hour the next burn, then back to just a few minutes etc.
When my wicks perform relatively well in all 3 tests, then I will do several more tests burning the candle correctly to make sure the wick is truly the right size for my applications.

How big you wick your candle - again, this will depend on the size container, type of wax etc.,

Candle Science has a pretty good guide on their site as a starting place. Just know this will not replace testing, as I have found that although a good starting point, none have ever been exact for me, and are usually a size or 2 too big.

 

[davidmyless]

Thanks so much for the reply I am going to do more research however candle science does look like a US business if you do know of any UK business that would be helpful

 

[squarepancakes]

Candlescience is a US business but a lot of the wicks they quote are quite easily found elsewhere. Otherwise, you can just use it as a guide to estimate what to use, personally I'm in Asia and most of my wicks are different as well, but when I'm experimenting on a new container/wick/wax/FO, I will estimate based on my experience and then size up and down according to the results of the test burn.

@jcandleattic has given you some very solid tips, many of them I do as well as a soy wax user, honestly, the resources on candlescience are general candlemaking knowledge and helpful no matter your geography.

 

[davidmyless]

Candlescience is a US business but a lot of the wicks they quote are quite easily found elsewhere. Otherwise, you can just use it as a guide to estimate what to use, personally I'm in Asia and most of my wicks are different as well, but when I'm experimenting on a new container/wick/wax/FO, I will estimate based on my experience and then size up and down according to the results of the test burn.

@jcandleattic has given you some very solid tips, many of them I do as well as a soy wax user, honestly, the resources on candlescience are general candlemaking knowledge and helpful no matter your geography.

Yeah, you are completely right the information they gave me really helped I probably should have explained what I meant to say a little better. I was looking for a company thing in the UK that people could maybe recommend me.

 

[TC472]

Hi @davidmyless with sink holes, I use a heat gun to remelt the surface to fill the gaps and as for wick size...I use this but it depends what wax you are using. I only use soy wax.

The link will take you to the Wick section, lots of help deciding which size is best for the container and wax being used.

https://suppliesforcandles.co.uk/product-category/candle-wicks