Effective wick testing is essential for making fantastic candles.
The primary disadvantage of testing candles is the length of time required, which lengthens the feedback loop of the central query:
Is your wick the right size to ensure a safe and effective burn for your candle?
Every candle producer aspires to fulfil these requirements, with safety occupying the top spot. Use the next four tips to speed up your wick testing so that you can remain organised, accurate, within your temperature tolerances, and flexible when necessary.
Use an identification system: Tip #1
Without some type of identifying system, no proper record keeping system is complete. For inventory management, retail establishments employ an SKU, but if you produce candles, you need a way to link your results to your records.
Using a reliable candle identification system, you should be able to:
Keep a record of the temperatures at which a particular candle was melted, added, poured, and cured.
Remember the outcome of the wick test for that particular candle. Relate every item in your stock to your design and testing notes. These IDs enable you to follow the development of any candle design, or the "recipe" for that candle, from conception to final disposal. more precisely, from the research and development stage until the burn cycle's conclusion.
In actuality, this entails maintaining a database of some kind, which can be informal if that's how you work, with all the data on a candle being linked to one or more ID numbers.
DDB ID (Date-Design-Batch) The date-batch identification system essentially involves giving each distinct design or batch its own identifier.
Then take into account the BATCH for that design, where you would record details regarding what transpires when the design is applied, such as:
Room humidity and temperature Wax temperature maximum oil adding fragrance temperature Scent and wax weights vapour pressure Information about wax (supplier, lot number, etc.) Information on the fragrance (type, supplier)
A hotter candle system is often caused by faster fuel combustion. Occasionally, adding a second measure to the wick testing process can help you identify systems that are burning too hot or too cool.
To determine how much wax your wicks ate, weigh the entire candle, including the container (if there is one), before and after each test.
Third tip: Measure the Temperature of the Melt Pool Melt pool temperature is one of many parameters that must be monitored during wick testing because they all affect how well the candle performs.
How well your wick matches the wax blend's aroma note profile will greatly influence how hot your throw will be. It also needs sufficient air flow in the space, but that's not crucial at this point.
You might be tempted to throw away your design and start over if it fails a safety test or doesn't smell as strong (or as delicious) as you would like.
This interruption can definitely set you back if you typically cure for several weeks. Fortunately, you don't have to pour a brand-new candle; you can simply replace the wick.
Save a tonne of time by reading this post with a video on how to replace your wick! When things go wrong during wick testing, it's not always necessary to make new candles. You can significantly minimise your feedback loop if you have an apple corer and some guts.
One final point: if you replace the wicks in a candle during the course of its lifetime, you generally shouldn't.
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