Are you burning your Candles right???
We can all strike a match and light a candle, but are we getting the best out of our Candles???? It is so important to follow proper candle care & safety guidelines to extend the life of your favourite candles.
There is a lot of new terminology being used when it comes to candles, tunneling, mushrooming, melt pool, burn cycle, memory ring. If we have treated ourselves to a luxury candle we would want to get the very best from it. People tend to "save" their special candles and only light them for short period of times, in fact this can be rather wasteful.
So what is the best & safest way to light a Candle:
- Make sure to trim your wick before first lighting your candle. If your wick is too tall (greater than 1/4 inch) it can lead to a flame that is too tall. By keeping the candle wick trimmed you are controlling the amount of melted wax that the candle has access to thus helping it burn more evenly. If you don't have a candle trimmer you can use a sharp scissor to trim the wick. You should trim your wick before every burn to ensure you have a cleaner, brighter burn.
- A Candles first burn is the most important. If a candle isn't burned for long enough to allow all the wax to melt from edge to edge of its container then it will create a memory ring. Once a candle has a memory ring it will continue to tunnel for the life of the candle, leaving wasteful wax on the sides of the container. To avoid this memory ring from being created ensure you are burning your candle for 1hr for every inch in diameter (eg our black gloss jars are 3inch diameter - you should burn these for 3hrs on their first burn to eliminate the risk of a memory ring)
- It is recommended to not burn candles for longer than 4 hours. Burning a candle for too long will cause Carbon to collect on the wick and this will lead the wick to Mushroom, if this happens there is a risk your wick will become unstable, start to smoke and release soot.
- Ensure you don't have your candle sitting in a draft. Keep your burning candle away from open windows, fans as moving air can disturb the flame.
Now you can enjoy your favourite scents,
Kathryn & Lilly x