Stella, May I know how you properly light candles?

1:52 PM Unknown 0 Comments

It's Tutorial Tuesdays and in my effort to try and keep the food posts on this day to a minimum, here is my post on how to light candles. I know it's a little silly to read about, but hear me out. Have you ever experienced a bad candle? You know when it just won't stay lit or the candle is lighting unevenly? Well I have and so I sought out how to perfect my candle lighting skills.
This is a fresh, new candle I have been hoarding for a few years now. It was a limited edition White Barn Lily Pond Candle. The bottom label says: The calming fragrance of a water garden is conjured up by light touches of water lilies and musk. That's quite a long winded way of saying water lily and musk. Nonetheless I do like it. It's one of the stronger scents from the brand that fills the whole room.
One of the best things to know whether of not a candle with have a strong scent when burned is to smell the lid instead of the wax side. It's something I heard from a video, but it stuck and has been a good marker to check different candles. I could not tell you the amount of times when a candle sounds amazing but there was just no payoff in scent when I take it home. So smell the lids!
Always trim the wicks! This isn't actually a tip as it is in the instructions, but I never used to to this. This keeps the wick trimmings from getting into the wax pool and makes for a cleaner burn. The easiest way to trim the wicks is with a nail clipper. It's perfect for getting into candles. Remember to trim or clean the wicks before you light each time.
These are also the jars I used for the upcycle candle jars post. Click here.
I like to use long kitchen matches. Although as you can see, I still had to use three matches for this candle. If you have never trimmed your wicks before you will also find them lighting faster too! Now just sit back and enjoy the fragrance!
The biggest tip I have for lighting candles is to wait for the wax to be liquid from wall to wall. What I mean is to have a clear layer of liquid wax pooled. This will ensure that your next burn will burn at the same rate. I used to think I had a problem with how the wicks were too small for the candle and then I was never able to burn the entire jar. I would be left with a tunneling effect and a lot of unused wax. I thought it was the wick being too small, but I have found that it is because there too much wax and the wax is drowning the wick. Sometimes when I first burn the candle it still never melts the wax near the walls of the jar (even after a few hours), so that's when I bring out cotton balls. By carefully dipping the cotton into the liquid wax, the cotton balls will absorb the excess wax. Then when you burn your candle, the wick should have more room to light properly.

And that's all my tips to how to light a candle. It started off as a silly post, but I think there is some useful information in this albeit lengthy post. Come back tomorrow for the update with the planner dilemma! (Can you spot the planner in the pictures?)

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