Making a great candle wick is important if you are going to make a great candle. The wick must be very straight. The wick should be saturated with a wax similar if not the same wax as you are using to make your candles. To get the best results another coat or two of wax on top of the saturation seems to improve how the candle will burn.
- The wick material must be held straight. How you do this, is not as important as a few things to consider. Do not pull the wick so tight that it will not absorb the wax. Tight enough to keep it straight but not so tight as to stop the absorption of wax. My wife used the “Wick Makers” that I designed for her. With her wick makers (she had three), she made 72 wicks at a time. She always made her wicks for the next pour not the current one. In that way she could prepare the next pour jars while the current pour was cooling and setting up.
- Let the wick soak long enough to absorb the wax. My wife usually let them soak while she was doing something else. Sometimes it was several hours (which does not hurt anything), and sometimes it was just 15 minutes. In my opinion a few minutes was enough, but she always wanted to be on the safe side. After all, she was the Candle Maker. It is improves the absorption process if the wax is a little hotter than the temperature you pour at. This is especially true for the natural waxes, like soy.
- After the absorption is over the wax needs to set up and cool. Take your wicks out of the wax and let them set until they are nice and cool. If you are using the “Wick Maker”, it will stand by it’s self, out of the way somewhere.
- The next step is coating the wick. This process is similar to making a taper candle. You are not trying to get the wick to absorb more, so do not let it soak. What you are trying to do at this step is just give the wicks a little extra rigidity, and good burning start. Again my wife always dipped her wicks twice, but I thought that was unnecessary. After all once a burning wick starts melting the candle wax, why is anything but the absorption important. But I could not convince my wife, and she was the one making perfect candles, so my opinion was irrelevant. So if you want to dip twice, go right ahead, just make sure to let the wicks cool between each dipping.
- Cut the wick. You now have wicks that will burn good in the wax you are using. They will need to be cut to the appropriate length. The length of the wick should allow for 1/4 of wick to be left, for ignition, after you pour your candle. My wife was not real accurate at pouring, and she liked to give her customers their money’s worth, so she always made her wicks a little longer. With her “Wick Maker” it was easy to set the exact length she wanted. As she made 8 ounce soy candles in jelly jars, she made her wicks 4 1/8 inches long. The jelly jars were 3 3/4 from bottom to top.
- You now have perfect wicks for you perfect candles.
- Notes – It is better not to have your wicks dyed or scented. But, it is not a sin. It is important to test the wick size to make sure the flame is large enough to melt all wax, but not so large as to smoke excessively and burn too hot. Remember that some scents and dyes can cause your candle to smoke more, make sure you are using scents and dyes that are compatible with your wax. As my wife found out some of the wholesale web stores are not very reputable. Please, 1/4 inch of wick above the wax is sufficient to start a good burn.
