Selling unique, handmade candles for gifts, holidays or the home.
Information
Candle Burning Instructions
Tunneling Dripping Perfect Burn

Candle Burning Instructions

By following the Safety and Burning Instructions included with each candle you will achieve the maximum amount of burn time possible.

Never leave a burning candle unattended. Keep candles out of reach of children or pets. Keep candles away from decorations made of plastic, foam or molded polystyrene often used in table centerpieces.

Always burn candles in a level candle holder. This will ensure the candle will burn evenly the entire life of a candle. Appropriately sized candle holders will prevent damage to surfaces by heat and staining by fragrance oils or wax dyes. Glass contained candles are subject to sweating and should be placed on a coaster or heat resistant surface as well.

Never allow wick trimmings or match stubs to remain in the top of a burning candle. Debris left near the wick can reignite and make the candle burn unevenly.

Always use a candle snuffer to extinguish a candle's flame. Blowing out a candle may cause the melted wax to splatter.

Always keep your wicks trimmed to about 1/4 inch to prevent candle from smoking.

Keep burning candles away from drafts. Drafts may force the flame close to candle edge making the candle burn unevenly, drip, and smoke.

Failure to carefully follow directions could result in fire hazard, property damage, and or personal injury.

Please check and and all of your candles often. This simple act takes but a few minutes and insures the safety and well being of your living space. Candles are fire and should be treated with a tremendous amount of respect!


Candle Burning Tips

These helpful hints apply to candles where the candlemaker or manufacturer have chosen the proper wick for the diameter of the candle. Following safety and burning instructions ensures the maximum burn time attainable from the candle.

Pillar Candles

The very first burn of a pillar candle is the most important. Allow candle to burn 1 hour for every one inch in diameter of the candle. This will create the "melt pool" that will help your candle to completely consume itself. The liquid wax should reach the edge of the candle but not spill over.

Taper Candles

Store your tapers in a cool, dark place. Laying tapers flat will help to prevent them from warping or changing shape.

Dinner tapers burning too quickly? Next time, place your tapers in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator for several hours prior to lighting. This will help your candles to burn more slowly and evenly.

When you are entertaining and want to light quite a few tapers quickly, light them prior to the event and snuff them out. This will make it easier to relight them with little effort and as quickly as possible.

Votive Candles

To keep your votive glass from overheating, try placing one teaspoon of water in the glass before placing votive in holder. Before putting water in the glass, check to be sure the wick is not exposed on the base of the votive. Water in the wick will make your candle sputter and go out. You might find the glass will remain clean and clear when lit if you take the time to do this little trick.

Think it's too hot to burn candles in the summer? Waiting until the first chill of fall to enjoy candlelight again? Well wait no more! After cleaning out your fireplace for the summer, arrange your candles in the fireplace. The Candle Witch finds this a wonderful way to enjoy the tranquility of candlelight on a pleasant summer's eve- and her husband likes it too! Best of all the heat goes up the flu and out of your house and you don't have to worry about wax damaging the surface. If you do have wax spill in the fireplace, wait to remove it until morning when it has hardened and the wax will chip off easily.

Candle Etiquette

Candles flickering at eye level can be annoying at the dining table. When entertaining, make sure your candle flames are well above or below the eye level of guests. You wouldn't want to dampen the cross-table conversation!

You just spent time preparing a savory dinner and start to light those lovely rose scented candles before the guests arrive. Stop! When serving a delicious meal choose unscented candles for the dining table. Your guests will appreciate the ambience created by the candles and thank you for not detracting from your savory dishes! You may love the rose fragrance but your guests may not!

A perfect place for those scented candles is the bathroom. The subtle scent of a candle works wonders as a bathroom refresher. Light a candle before the guests arrive and put away those cans of heavily scented room deoderizers and unsightly plug ins!

  Candle Care and Repair

Candle care continues after snuffing the candle out. When the melted wax has cooled and hardened, turn the candle to prevent uneven burning by drafts.

Avoid displaying candles in direct sunlight, on a mantle, or above a burning fire or stove. Exposure to extreme heat can misshapen your candle and melt the wax.

Dropped that candle you just bought and marred the surface? Try holding the candle over a flame and passing it back and forth. With a little patience( and not holding the candle too close to the flame) you may be able to work any marks off the surface.

Pillar candles, when not in use, can collect dust. Highly scented candles can sometimes get a little sticky over time. No problem! Take that old, old, well worn t-shirt you wouldn't dare wear in public anymore and use it to polish your candles. Pour a little salad oil on your newly acquired rag for candle cleaning and gently rub the surface of the candle. This will remove all traces of dirt and erase small scratches as well. Take a non- oily part of your rag and wipe any excess oil from your candle. Voila! Candle looks new again!

Makeup sponges work great to clean the surface of your container candles. Wipe carefully around the wick (you do NOT want to break it) and again, clean candle. Hopefully you purchased a container candle with a lid, so that when the lid is replaced over the candle after burning it will help keep dust out and help retain the fragrance longer.

Avoid placing candles in direct sun or artificial light. Some candle dyes can fade and lose color. Even your white candles can turn yellow with direct exposure over a small period of time.

The Candle Witch hopes these candle care tips will make your candle burning that much easier and more enjoyable. Please feel free to share any candle care tips that add to your candle burning experience.

Candle Wax Removal

Do not panic! Depending on the type of surface and what color wax has spilled will determine the method of clean up. If after reading these tips you are still unsure, consult a professional cleaner.

The party is over, it was a great success, and now you are cleaning up. You find candle wax has dripped on the carpet. Now what do you do? Take a very dull knife or wooden ice cream stick and gently scrape off as much of the cooled wax as possible. If the candle wax is white, lay a white paper towel over the wax. With a clothes iron, press the warm iron over the paper towel. The heat of of the iron will melt the wax and the paper towel will then absorb it. Keep repeating until all the wax is absorbed. Be careful to keep the iron moving so you do not burn the carpet or set the paper towel on fire. Use as low a heat setting as you possibly can.

Colored wax requires careful judgement. When heat is applied to the wax, the dye can then be "set" in the carpet and you will have a permanent stain. Please keep this in mind if you decide to try the above technique on colored wax or try to remove wax from white carpet. By all means if you spent a fortune on your carpet and do not want to risk trying to remove it yourself, call a professional carpet cleaner or the carpet manufacturer for cleaning suggestions.

Removing wax from hardwood floors can be a bit easier. You will want to remove the wax as soon as possible. Candle dyes can stain and the quicker the removal the better. The Candle Witch takes her heat gun on low (a hair dryer will do), liquifies the wax with the heat gun and wipes up with a paper towel. Heat guns can get very hot, so keep it moving over the wax so you do not scorch the floor and do be careful! The hair dryer is a little trickier because it blows more air, but if your prepared with your paper towel, you will not have a problem catching the wax. Again, if you have spent a fortune on your hardwood floors and are concerned about trying this yourself, consult a professional.

Fabric can take a little more work when it comes to candle wax removal. Again, do not panic and let the wax cool. Take the back of the knife or ice cream stick you used to remove wax from the carpet and scrape as much off the fabric as possible. If the wax contained a strong colored dye, take it to a professional dry cleaner and let them do what they do best. When the fabric is not your Armani suit, and you would like to take matters into your own hands, you can try pouring boiling water through the fabric. The hot water will carry the wax and dye out of the fabric, and not set it into the fabric like ironing would. This can be a useful technique for table cloths.

The Candle Witch is never without her professional size Goo Gone found in most cleaning sections of many stores. This product is fantastic for removing wax, and has a pleasing citrus scent. Goo Gone takes a little longer than heat to break down wax, but can be used with a soft cloth on carpet, cement, clothing, floors, walls, glass and a variety of other surfaces. There are as many surfaces you should not use it on, so do please read the label and fine print before using.

When The Candle Witch removes wax from furniture surfaces, she uses her magic heat gun, and or Goo Gone to remove wax from her husband's speakers (he'll never know!) (he does now!), desks, end tables, etc. This technique usually does the trick but she wants to share with you another technique she read about (hasn't tried) and perhaps this will work for you. To make sure the wax is as hard as possible, run an ice cube over the wax. Taking that super dull knife or wooden ice cream stick, remove as much of the wax as possible being very careful as you get closer to the surface of the furniture. Put a couple of drops of lighter or cleaning fluid on a clean piece of cheesecloth and wipe the last traces of candle wax off. Keeping to the stained area only, turn your cheesecloth often until wax and stain disappear. You will want to follow with furniture polish or paste wax. Once again, if it is a really fine piece of furniture, ask an expert how to clean the spot before attempting anything you are not sure about.

Beeswax can be removed from countertops and tables by using a little lemon oil and a soft cloth. The beeswax mixes with the lemon oil and wipes right up. Test lemon oil in a small area if you are unsure how it will affect the surface.

These are all the candle wax removal tips The Candle Witch has run across. Please contact The Candle Witch if you have any additional questions, and by all means share your candle clean up tips. Remember, many of these tips you will never have to use if you have your candle burning in an appropriate candle holder.