How to Care For Your Beeswax Candles

With a little care, beeswax candles will burn well and efficiently. Assuming the candles are made of quality, well-filtered beeswax there should be little, if any, dripping or waste.

On this page we share a few tips and techniques that will help you get the most out of your beeswax candles.

PILLAR CANDLES

Before lighting your beeswax candle, trim the wick with to ¼" (6 mm) in order to ensure optimal burning. Once your beeswax pillar is lit, it is important to maintain a ¼" wick length so that the flame doesn't spike and add soot to the room or begin to tunnel. (By "wick length" we mean the part of the wick which is protruding above the wax pool). There are a few ways to maintain the ¼" wick length. Read on.

HOW TO BURN YOUR BEESWAX PILLAR CANDLE

Allow the candle to burn approximately 30–45 minutes for every 1 inch in diameter of the actual candle size. This will allow a nice even burn across the top and prevent tunnel burning.

The chart below shows the minimum burn time for each candle size.

Pillar Diameter	Minimum Burn Time
2 inch	30 minutes to 1 hour
2½ inch	1½ to 2 hours
3 inch	2 to 4 hours

Before lighting your pillar candle, trim the wick on an angle to ¼".

Tilt candle slightly when lighting.

Each time candle is lit allow it to burn until the molten pool of wax has expanded to within ¼" of the edge. This way you prevent tunnel burning and the candle will burn evenly down to the end.

As a general rule you don’t want the flame to "spike". The flame should be rounded at all times as in above image. If flame is not rounded, the wick has gotten too long. (A draft in the room can also cause the flame to flicker and spike.)

For best results, the wick should never be allowed to get longer than a ¼" the entire time the candle is burning. When the wick is too long the flame will begin to dance and spike (below image) and cause smoke which adds soot to the air.

There are a few ways to maintain a ¼" wick length as the candle burns:

Trim the wick while the candle is burning. Carefully clip the excess wick length from the flame using a sharp wick trimmer or scissors. Immediately extinguish the cut wick using a damp tissue.
Roll the inner edges of the candle top in towards the molten pool of wax. As the rolled edges melt this will raise up the molten pool making the wick shorter which means a smaller rounded flame.
Add small pieces of beeswax to the molten pool to raise it higher around the wick. (Save your leftover pieces of beeswax candles for this purpose.)

OTHER IMPORTANT TIPS

THE FLAME NEEDS OXYGEN

A beeswax candle flame burns hotter and as such, it requires adequate oxygen to burn efficiently. Do not burn pillar candles in enclosed containers, such as hurricane lanterns etc. Rather, burn your beeswax pillar candles on open heat resistant platters or pedestals.

AVOID RUN OVERS, BURN ON A LEVEL SURFACE

It is also important the candle is sitting on a level surface while burning otherwise the molten wax may melt through the thinning walls as it burns away and it may begin to run over. Once this happens the life of the candle is significantly shortened and it is difficult to burn successfully after that.

GIVE THEM SPACE

When burning the candles in groups, situate at least 8 inches apart from each other and away from drafts. Otherwise, the sides of the neighbouring candles will begin to soften, eventually melting through from the hot temperature of its own molten pool of wax. This could cause potential damage to surfaces and shorten the life of the candle.

DON'T BLOW OUT THE FLAME

Never blow out your candle flame. When you blow out a flame, there is a risk of hot wax getting sprayed over surfaces, as well, the thick cotton wicking will keep smouldering and fill the air with smoke and soot.

To extinguish the candle flame, dunk the burning wick into the molten wax pool using a wick dipper, then straighten upright.

The wick is now primed with wax and ready for lighting next time.

TAPER CANDLES

Our taper candles are designed not to drip. You read that correctly! As long as they are burned in a draft free room, our taper candles burn drip-free! There is need to trim our taper candle wicks. The cotton wick we use is designed to curl into the hottest part of the flame and be consumed.

Never blow out your candle flames or you will risk spraying the hot wax across surfaces. Instead, use a snuffer or a candle wick dipper to extinguish then use the wick dipper to place a drop of melted wax on the wick to stop smouldering.

TEA LIGHT CANDLES

Burn tea lights in a room free of drafts in quality glass cups on a heat resistant surface. Tea lights burn best in containers that do not restrict the air flow. To extinguish the candle flame, dunk wick in molten pool using a wick dipper, then straighten upright.

VOTIVE CANDLE CARE

We recommend burning votive candles free of drafts on a heat resistant platter or in a container with open sides.

Beeswax burns at a higher temperature and the flame needs oxygen. (We discourage burning our votives in traditional votive holders.) Be sure to burn your votive on an open platter or in a container with openings so that the flame can get enough air flow. This will allow the flame to receive the adequate oxygen it requires to burn properly. Restricted airflow will cause the flame to flicker and spike resulting in inefficient combustion. Not only will this shorten the burn time, the flame will begin to smoke and add soot to the air.

Your candle should not run over as long as the flame is given sufficient oxygen and remains free of drafts, however, sometimes overflow can happen when the candle wall melts through too soon. Here’s how that happens:

We use square braid cotton wicking. The weave of this wicking is designed to curl towards the hottest part of the flame so that it burns away efficiently. Sometimes the wick, where it comes out of the candle, will start to lean a bit. (In this case it would seem that the wick is consuming more molten wax than is available to it.) When this happens it may cause the candle wall to melt through and the molten wax to start running over.

 If you ever have this issue, while the candle is still burning, use a wick dipper to lift upright the wick spine that’s leaning at the base and that will give the candle wall a chance to harden up a bit so that the hot wax pool doesn’t melt through.

To extinguish the candle flame, dunk wick in molten pool of wax using a wick dipper, then straighten upright.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR CANDLE HOLDERS

The best way to clean glass candle cups and candle holders is to place them in the freezer for about 15–20 minutes. Remove from freezer and chip off the wax residue. The wax will easily let go from the container. Use a paper towel to polish the container.

Sometimes further clean up is called for after removing the residue wax. Simply place your candle holders on a multi-layer paper towel, in a hot oven (that's been turned off) for 10-15 min. The towels will soak up any wax drips. Remove candle holders from the oven and polish immediately!

HOW TO REMOVE BEESWAX FROM CLOTHING OR MATERIAL

Sometimes it’s inevitable, beeswax may splatter on your clothing or on your favourite tablecloth. You can safely remove beeswax from material with a few simple steps:

To start, place the garment that has beeswax on it in the freezer for about an hour to harden the wax.
Remove the hardened wax from the fabric using a blunt object.
Place the garment on an ironing board. Slip a few paper towels under the area where the wax is on the garment. Place a few layers of paper towel on top.
Using your iron on a low setting, iron over the paper towel to melt the wax. The paper towel will absorb the melted wax. You may need to add fresh layers of paper towel as the wax gets absorbed into the towel.
Lift the iron every 10 seconds to keep the paper towel from becoming too hot and reapply after a few seconds. Continue ironing until the beeswax has been completely absorbed into the towel. Clean garment as normal.

HOW TO REMOVE BEESWAX SPLATTERS FROM FLOORS & WALLS

If beeswax splatters or drips happen in the bathroom, on furniture, floors or walls, the wax one way to remove is by carefully lifting the excess using a window razor. Whatever wax residue is left on the surface, heat carefully with a hairdryer on high and polish with a soft cloth.