How To Select A Candle Wick?
3 min readParts of this method may not apply if you’re manufacturing taper candles or mini votives.
The majority of this tutorial focuses on container and pillar candles (and your acceptance criteria may vary depending on your intended outcome).
Wicks Are Quite Important In The Candle.
There are several wick kinds available on the market to complement the various waxes, containers, and smells.
Why Does Wick Type Matter?
Commercial candle wicks (which you buy from a provider) have a few distinguishing characteristics that make them suitable for various waxes:
• Makeup Using Fibres Or Threads: Many wicks are composed of cotton, while some are made of wood, fibreglass, or “natural fibres.”
• Braid Pattern: Most wicks contain threads woven in a certain pattern or density, which influences the wick’s burn behaviour and temperature.
• Wax Finish: To enhance structure (stand up straight in a melt pool) and make it simpler to light, commercial wicks are coated with a high melt point wax, often paraffin. Some wicks are sold without any of this, and some candle producers “prime” their wicks by dipping them in hot wax, though this isn’t required.
These characteristics are important since each wax has unique qualities such as density, melt point, and viscosity.
Step 1: Select A Kind Of Wax.
The candle industry is brimming with various waxes! Everything from vegetable waxes such as soy or palm to classic waxes such as paraffin or beeswax is available.
They all have advantages and disadvantages, therefore choosing the proper wax are dependent on your application.
Wax makers usually tailor their wax for a certain use, so make sure you get the right one for your candle.
The list below covers some of the most common wax mixes for container candles of each wax type, but you may look for various suppliers for anything you desire, especially if you aren’t manufacturing container candles.
Because liquid wax (as the fuel) passes via the wick into the flame, wax selection has a significant impact on wick type.
Step 2: Select A Wicked Series (Or Two)
Wicks generally function well in one set of waxes but not in others.
You’ll choose a series, to begin with, but you may alter your mind afterwards.
It’s a location where data is collected for you to act on. The greatest candle producers are aware of this and will typically not be concerned with their first few wick selections; each design is unique.
Choose one or more wick series to begin at this point. In a moment, you’ll select the size.
If you’re blending many waxes into one, start with the wick series for the wax that makes up the majority of your mixture.
You’ll find out shortly if your decision was made or not.
Step 3: Determine The Diameter
Determine the diameter in inches of your mould or container.
Diameter is the distance from one end of the circle to the other, straight across, for those of you who may not recall (don’t feel terrible).
You’ve arrived at the crossroads of art and science in candlemaking.
Multiple wicks in the candle are often beneficial in bigger diameter containers, which are considered anything greater than 3-inches. Whatever you decide, the diameter is critical in determining the size of your beginning wick (s).
Use an estimate of the area if you’re utilizing a square candle shape. Here’s one thought:
We don’t have wicks that burn in a square pattern, so it’s not a perfect method (yet). Don’t worry too much about it; the intricacies with square containers will be worked out during the burn test.
Step 4: Select Three-Wick Sizes
If it wasn’t already evident, this approach entails a lot of “testing things out” to determine if they work.
To test what occurs, most candle manufacturers produce three candles at once, each with a different size wick.
You do not need to choose three-wick sizes, but if you are attempting something new or have never done this before, constructing three candles at once helps narrow down the wick decision.
It might be a lot of work, but creating a safe candle that performs effectively necessitates some effort.
You could get fortunate once in a while, but don’t settle for a dangerous candle simply because you’re dissatisfied with the procedure.
Multiple wick designs are intricate and warrant their section, so take this as a basic starting point.