When it comes to beeswax candles' burn time, the quality of your wax, the size and type of your wick matter the most, and they surely play the most important roles in your candle burning performance, however, we are not going to talk about them in this article, so is there anything else you can do to get longer burn time? The answer is yes.
The first thing is wick tab !
We like to use wick tabs on all our pillar candles, 3D style candles, tealights and votives. wick tabs help keep your wick up so that it won't fall down and get drowned in the liquid wax. So if you use wick tabs, you probably can get a few hours' more burn time.
Check the pictures below: both candles are the same size, the top picture has no wick tab, the bottom one has a wick tab, the wick in the top picture fell in the wax and drowned when there was still lots wax left, while the bottom one was still standing up straight and burning strong.
The next thing is - the right candle holders.
Tealigts, votices, tapers, they all have special sized holders available, how about pillar candles? what type or shape of candle holders should you use to get longer burn time? The best holders i recommend for pillars are like these ;
These holders work especially well for the pillar or 3D candles that may drip, as they can catch the dripped wax and accumulate them together and supply back to your wick.
What makes these holders special? The bottom is actually not flat, the middle part is slightly lower so that the wax can always flow to or stay at the center for the wick to use. So even if your candle drips quite a lot, you probably can still get a very long burn time. However, if you use a big dish with flat bottom, you will end up with lots of wax left.
There is another thing you can do to get longer burn time - manage your candles. Most pillar and 3D type candles need management. This takes more skills and experience, we candle makers call that candle management which includes hugging your candle, trimming your wick at the right time, I will talk about that in details in a different article.
Thanks for reading.
-- The Handemade Charm
Jun