Lately, I've received a lot of questions about how to properly trim your candle wick. When do you do it? How short should it be? Why is it important? The answers to these questions directly relate to the quality and burn life of your candle. In this blog post I'll go through the step by step instructions of how best to maintain your candle when it comes to wick trimming which will ultimately give you a longer candle life!
THE FIRST BURN
When making the candles, I always leave the wicks a bit longer than they should be. This is to give the wax some room to expand, which it does in varying temperatures (mostly in the summer). So the first thing you'll want to do before lighting your Bridge Nine candle is to trim the wick! For the first burn, I usually leave the wick a bit over the recommended 1/4".
Now this is really important! When you're ready to light your candle, you MUST give it time to let the melt pool reach the edge of the candle. This typically takes about two or three hours. Why does this matter? Soy wax creates a 'memory.' So if you burn your candle for the first time and it only reaches about half way to the edge of the container, it's going to be pretty difficult to get past that wax rim the next time you light it.
TRIM YOUR WICK!
One of the easiest ways to extend the burn life of your candle is to keep your wick trimmed! There are two times that I find most important to trim your wick. The first being when you re-light your candle. This is when you'll want to use those handy wick trimmers to cut it to 1/4". Most wick trimmers (including the ones we sell) have a 1/4" foot on the bottom of them, so you can rest them right on the wax and clip!
The other time you'll want to trim your wick is if you burn your candles for longer than four hours at a time, or if you start to notice a carbon ball forming on the wick.
Carbon balls are a completely normal behavior for a wick, but they will cause your candle to burn hotter than it should. This is when you'll want to blow out your candle, trim your wick and re-light.
If you follow these steps, you'll ensure a long and clean burn life for your Bridge Nine Candle!
