When making a candle, a handful of factors will affect the choice of wicks. NorthWood Distributing is a family-owned candle supply company that carries top-quality supplies for making candles, soap, wax melts, bath bombs & more. Also keep in mind that this chart is not intended to be used in lieu of testing your candles. It’s very important to test your candles before giving them as a gift or selling them. Simply open the file from your downloads folder and print as many copies as you like. Printer setting may differ, but we recommend selecting the “fit to page option” in your printer settings.

• If you want to change the wick type, you need to find another three wicks under the same type.
• Now we know what the right candle wick should be, and what factors will affect the choice of the right wick sizes.
• If a candle wick is too large in size, it may develop too much heat and have a deeper melt pool.
• If the wick is too long or too thick, compared to the diameter of your container, it will get too much more energy than that size of the candle really needs.

Besides, a pre-waxed wick will help your candle burn more evenly and more reliably. If you’re running a candle making business, using waxed wicks will make your candle more professional. In this part, we’ll show you how to conduct a candle wick burn test so that you can finally choose the right wick size for your handmade candles. Then, you can make batch candles with the right wicks. ECO candle wick is a coreless, flat cotton wick braided with thin paper filament throughout. It typically has a rigid, straight structure without the need for a core.

Step 3: Measure the inside diameter of the candle container or candle.

It’s easy to tell because the flame is too tall and flickers continually. The melt pool is deeper than 1/2 inch (13 mm), and the wick is producing excess carbon that causes the ‘mushrooming’ you see on the end of the wick. Wisps of soot can be seen leaving the flame periodically.

We’re here to help with our complete guide to candle wick sizes. Stabilo wicks are especially suited to highly scented paraffin/blended wax or harder to melt vegetable waxes i.e. those with a higher melting point. Some popular waxes we’d suggest for use with these wicks are KeraSoy 4120 pillar wax (pillar candles only) and Nature Wax C6 soy coconut blend container wax. Wicking your candle is one of the most important parts of candle making but is also thought to be the most difficult. You may have picked the best type of wax, fragrance, and dye; however, if the incorrect wick is selected, your candle will not burn properly.

• One of the most important aspects of candle making is finding the right wick size for your candle.
• You may have 2-3 different brands and a few different sizes within that brand to test out.
• Here is a wick size chart for pillar candles, for reference only.
• The wick you choose will depend on how much fragrance oil you put in the candle.
• This wick has a very soft burn, and they tend to curl a bit when they burn.

Square braid is the best wick for beeswax and was designed for this purpose. They can also be used in other waxes like paraffin and soy. It has a paper filament throughout that provides excellent rigidity and strength. If the wick is mushrooming, the candle is sooting, or the melt pool is substantially deeper than ½” (1.3 cm), the wick is most likely too large. With many different brands of wick on the market, knowing which waxes the wicks work best in will help you get off to a very good start. Take a look below at some of our most popular waxes recommended for the wicks we supply here at Craftovator.

Is the Candle Wick Size Interchangeable between Different Wick Types?

Square wick is designed to give you a curl when it is burned to minimize carbon buildup. This wick is constructed of 100% natural fibers with a special treatment. This wick is very effective in large containers or as custom wick assemblies.

The Right Size Wick

But when you find the best wick size for your candle recipe, it’s all about copying and pasting in the future. Burning a candle that the wick works best with other candle making supplies, you can enjoy the aroma hassle-free. If you’re making candles without a container, like pillars, go to measure the diameter of your mold.

Step 1: Decide what wax to use for candle making.

When you have different sizes, you can test to see which wooden wick works best in the candle you’re making. Wooden wicks can add a lovely campfire atmosphere to a room. Some wooden wicks burn like a natural flame, crackling and all. For the best burn, choose a wick that has been treated with a clean-burning agent. These are self-trimming and clean-burning with minimized mushrooming, smoke, and soot. ECO wicks are excellent for waxes with a lower melting point.

An under wicked candle will not burn out to the edge of the container but will instead burn down the middle, or ‘tunnel’. Often the flame will extinguish itself before all the wax is burned. Larger diameter containers, which are unofficially anything larger than 3-inches, typically benefit from multiple wicks in the candle. Regardless of your choice, the diameter plays a key role in your starting wick size(s).

If testing pillar candles, allow them to burn for two hours then record the details of the melt pool and wick appearance. Ideally the melt pool will achieve the desired diameter by this point. CD wicks are specialty wicks with interwoven paper threads. This wick will offer you increased rigidity and will improve the burn of solid scented, solid color, votive, container and pillar candles. Here is our starter guide for choosing the correct wick for your chosen container. This is a great starting point for testing your homemade candles with a variety of waxes.

How to Make a Candle Wick by Hand?

There are simply too many factors at play to make a chart that includes every possible situation. After measuring the inside diameter of your container, select the suggested wick size from the chart. In addition, select the wick size both below and above the one that is suggested.

To make things simpler, we have made a list of mainstream candle wicks in the market and what type of wax they work best with. If a candle wick is too large in size, it may develop too much heat and have a deeper melt pool. Consequently, the container will be too hot or even candle wick size chart shatter if you’re using a glass container. Use this chart as a starting point to conduct your own burn tests. We can not guarantee that these wicks will work perfectly in your candles. Chances are, anyone who’s ever made a candle has found themselves asking this question!

The ideal size wick will make a uniform flame without any issues such as tunneling or smoke. A mushrooming candle wick is a sign that the wick you are using is too big or the wick simply needs to be trimmed. You can try to use a smaller wick, trim the wick you are using or change the wick type altogether. Zinc wicks are known for mushrooming so if that is what you are using, consider another type. Light the candle and let the wax melt from rim to rim before blowing out the flame.

They give a nice curl when burning to minimize carbon buildup. The best way to get the last of the honey out of the wax is to allow it to clarify in a heated double boiler or wax tank. The best way to tell if it is done is by checking the clarity of the wax. When the wax is clear, filter the wax through a clean piece of felt cloth and mold into useable portions. I usually do a variety of different sizes, so that I have the right size for whatever I am making. The resulting wax is still yellow and still has the signature honey-like scent, although the filtering may have lightened up the wax a little bit.