My Candle Pet Hate

If you love candles as much as I do, you don’t want to waste a single drop of wax, especially when you are buying luxury candles which seem to be more costly than your average candle. But just because a candle is expensive it doesn't mean it is well made. There are lots of high end brands that do not burn effectively because they are poorly made with the wrong sized wick and low quality wax.

One of the reasons I started making my own candles was because I was fed up of buying such candles. I'd light the candle for a few hours then when I came to extinguish it, I was always annoyed by the hard ring of thick wax that was left behind.

I test all my candles extensively to avoid this problem. Only the other day I encountered this with a candle that had too small a wick. Things don't always go to plan and I'd totally misjudged the wick size and this was the result.....

Not pretty, huh?

Tunneling is not only ugly, it’s wasteful. This happens when the wick size isn't large (or wide) enough so the candle burns too quickly. Tunneling can also drown or shorten a wick, as wax melts over top which makes it really tricky if not impossible to light the candle next time. While the scent isn't greatly affected with tunneling , you get a lot of wax around the edges which means your lovely candle that you've spent your hard earned money on won't last as long. There are some candle brands out there that are literally taking the wick!

Testing testing...

So my best advice to get the most value for money out of your candle is when you light your candle for the first time, you should allow it to burn for a minimum of 4 hours so you achieve a lovely even melt pool all the way around the edges. You shouldn't have any unused wax left around the edges after you've blown it out, as long as you'be burnt it for at least 4 hours. Once the candle has formed a melt pool all the way to the edge of its container, extinguish the candle and trim it back a little. A bigger melt pool means a bigger scent throw.

A good candle maker knows how to balance the wick size, wax type and size. And that’s what you’re looking for, not a constant hassle. So you can rest assured that when you buy one of my candles, you will be buying a candle that has a scent to produce a superior experience.

If you have any questions just ping me an email at charlotteharleycandles@gmail.com.