1. Trim your wick
The wick is basically the heart of the candle, if this isn't correct, the candle will not burn properly or smell gorgeous. When I teach my classes, I explain how much testing is involved every time you create a candle in a new jar. Each and every size requires its own unique wick. So once the hard work has been done discovering this, a little care is all it takes to truly enjoy.
Before relighting your candle, please remember to always trim your wick!
All that excess ash is not pretty, it will fall into the candle, cause sooting and make the candle way too hot which will result in the candle burning far too quickly.
You can either trim using a sharp pair of scissors, nail scissors work great, or invest in a lovely wick trimmer available here which have a little ledge to catch the excess ash during the trim.
2. Consider where you place
Consider the space you have, a small candle may struggle to scent a large room so the size of candle you choose when thinking about a particular space is very important.
Never place your candle near draughts or too close together. Place on a heat resistant surface away from any hazards which may catch light and always make sure they are well out of reach of children and pets.
When lighting your candle always use long matches or a long handled lighter. Beware of floaty sleeves and long hair.
3. Full melt pool
Never light your candle if you plan on popping out in an hour which will mean you have to blow it out!! This is how tunnelling happens. Most natural wax candles will need around 3-4 hours to reach a full melt pool ( where the wax is melted to the outside edge of the jar) by doing this your candle will burn down nice and evenly and you will get to enjoy all of the gorgeous scented wax without wasting any.
It's also worth noting though that you shouldn't burn your candle for longer than 4 hours as it will get too hot.
Cool for at least 2 hours before relighting and make sure the wax is free from any debris.
4. Extinguish carefully
Never blow out your candle too strongly as this can cause wax to fly out of the pot, which can scald or damage anything close by and can also risk the candle not extinguishing fully.
You can also buy beautiful candle snuffers which work perfectly, find them here
5. Storage
Crazy British temperatures can play havoc with candles. To take care of yours, keep away from direct sunlight as this can cause the oils to evaporate and the wax to melt but also do not store anywhere very cold as this will cause the wax to crack.
6. Enjoy..
I'll end this little blog though by saying, enjoy.., make the time to sit back, put your feet up and relax.
Thanks for reading.
Helen X