One of the most important things of candle making, besides the scent, is making sure that the candles you're buying are burning cleanly and efficiently.
First, I have to choose a wax that I like the best. I use soy wax (I'll explain why in another blog post). I then have to choose a wick type and size that I think will be appropriate. Wicks come in all different sizes and they recommend the wick size based on the size of the container and the type of wax. I then buy the size that's recommended and wick one size up and one size down for a total of 3 wicks to burn test.
To conduct a proper burn test, I make sure to keep all of the variables the same. I burn my candles for 4 hours at a time per day. I take notes after every burn and I ask the following questions:
Did the candle melt all of the way to the edge?
Was the flame waving by the end of the burn test?
Is the wax melt pool 1/2 an inch deep?
Did the wick mushroom excessively by the end of the burn?
I burn the candle all of the way to the bottom and then pick the one that I like the best.
I love providing all of you with the best candle possible, they will never be perfect but I do my absolute best to provide you with quality with every single soy candle.