For each fragrance that Bramble Berry adds, we’ve tested a minimum of 100 more. These are a couple of the burn tests I did this weekend. Notice how poorly the one on the left performed? These are two fragrances we won’t be adding (burn and poor throw). For the record, they were a Blueberry Martini and a Pomegranate.

What are we looking for with Burn Tests?

* Throw – This is the main hurdle to clear in a Burn Test. Does the scent fill the room? Does the fragrance strongly convey a pure smell or does it mutate into a horrible smelling sad version of its former self?

* Burn – Does the fragrance affect the burn? Some fragrances make the wax harder or softer or promote an uneven burn. We’re looking for an even, smooth, clean (non-soot-promoting) burn. What does the fragrance do to the wax?

* Seepage – Even if you mix the fragrance in fully, the fragrance can start to pool inside pockets in the wax causing sputtering, flame flares or overcome the flame, putting it out.

You can find Bramble Berry’s line of fully tested candle fragrances here or Candle Supplies here.

Thank you to Joyce in Connecticut for sending this helpful wick placement tip for The Soap Queen readers:

A suggestion for wicks. I have used cotter pins that are around 4 inches long to hold wicks in the center while candles are hardening/setting up. I have also used the long bobby pins. I put candle wick pinched in either of these and then I put some masking tape on the both ends and to the glass containers to hold in place. This leaves enough room on either side of the candle to pour in your wax and you can adjust the wick easily if it shifts when you pour the wax in.

The photo on the right is of a candle with a poorly placed wick. The wick was about 20% off center. Because of the centering issue as well as a too-small wick choice, there was a lot of extra wax left after a full burn. As a consumer who spent over $11 for this candle, I was a little bummed about the extra hours of wax left sitting in the candle.

Phew! I just got back from a full day of Otion Location Scouting in Seattle. There are lots of options for us to open a second store and I’m excited to go scouting again next week.

The post on Wick Size got a few comments wondering how to determine appropriate wick size. If a few souls were brave enough to ask, I’m thinking that there might be others out there curious as well.

Here is a brief overview of how to pick out wick sizing:

Wicks size can be tricky. Picking a wick depends on your candle size and how big you want your wax pool. The wax pool is the area of melted, liquid wax around the wick.

If the wax pool is to big on a pillar candle then it may smoke and wick up fuel (wax) too quickly. When the candle burns too fast, the wax will drip down the sides of your candle. Too small of a wick in any candle will get you the problem I had in the original picture (suffocating your wick!). We have a chart below that will help you in choosing the correct size.

For pillar candles you want to make sure that that you have a nice buffer zone of unmelted wax around the edges of your candles, to keep the melted wax from dripping down the sides of the candle (and onto your tablecloth and finery). Using the table referenced above, for a candle that is 2.5 inches across, I would go with the CD-12 wick. This gives you an area of melted wax that is 1.93,” leaving you a nice buffer zone of still-hard wax to save all available counters.

For container candles, the “too big of a wax pool” is not as big of a concern because any melted wax just stays safely in your container. The main concern is that the wick is not too small. The chart, again, works wonderfully for this. If you have say, a 3 inch container candle, using the chart, it is clear that you can use either the CD-12 or the CD-16. Both will work, one just gives you a slightly larger wax pool. You can decide which one you think looks and burns best.

Remember, wicks that are too large in container candles will smoke and provide excess soot on walls and ceilings so while a fully melted wax pool is something to strive for – too much of a good thing can be, well… sooty.

I hope this helps! Feel free to post any follow-up questions below and I will do my best to answer.

I made some candles with our Container Wax, brown candle color and Basmati Rice fragrance. The candles smell amazing (yum, yum, yum!) and look appealing with a double pour. But, they cracked.

In hindsight, I poured the wax too warm. And, judging from the chemical smell coming from the brown colored part, I used too much color as well. Whoops.

The candles are cost about around $2.63 each to make (not counting labor or overhead). That’s the price of a latte and is worth trying to save.

The price break down for the $2.63 is below:

12 oz. wax $.83
container $.50
wick $.09
fragrance 1 oz. per pound $1.19
color (10 drops per pound) $.02

The theory is that that by heating the wax up, in the container, the slow and gentle cool down would keep the cracking to a minimum and save the candle. The photo below is the candle in a gentle warm water bath.

I’m not sure what happened. The melting down went easily and smooth. I let the candles harden up, in the water bath, so that they cooled slowly. I believed that this slow harden would keep the cracking to a minimum.

This slow cool down did keep the cracking to a minimum. However, what came in its place was worse than the cracking. Notice the strange pitted look?

Undaunted, I tried again. Maybe it it was just excess air that had somehow gotten trapped under the wick? Alas, the second try turned out worse than the first. The pitting is the size of a mini crater and the uneven texture brings to mind the pockmarked faces of ’40s movie villains.

I still have cracked candles but the good news is that the cracked candles burn just as nicely as the “fixed” candles! Here’s the test burn; other than minor wick centering problems, both candles are burning cleanly and easily.

The moral of the story is sometimes well enough should be left alone; and, that ugly burns just the same as pretty.