How To Make Cotton Candlewicking Preparing cotton for use in wicks

[evought 0]

I recently learned the process for making hand-made candle wicking from cotton. I am a candle-maker by trade and am slowly getting into making more and more of the ingredients completely from scratch. I have been making hand-made hemp wicking for some time, but hand-made cotton wicking does not burn. Here's why:Traditional candle wick materials, hemp and linen, have a good deal of loft. There are air spaces in the fibers which allow a viscous liquid like molten wax to infiltrate the material and get drawn upward ('wicking'). Cotton fibers, particularly machine spun cotton fibers, are too tight. There are not enough air spaces to draw the wax upwards. The flame runs out of uel, the wick itself burns and chars. Finally, the candle sputters out.Cotton wicking can be made to work if it is treated first. A weak acid is used to dissolve some of the ibers so that the wax can infiltrate the material. Boric acid is normally used or this purpose. Treating cotton is not hard and can be done at home.A boric acid solution can be made in your kitchen by combining salt water with borax (washing soda). Add one tablespoon of each to about a pint of warm water and stir to disolve. Boric acid will form when the salt and borax combines. Put a ball or skein of your wicking material (I use hand-braided perl cotton) in the solution, cap it, and leave it overnight. In the morning, take it out and let it air dry. If you soaked a skein of wicking, you can open up the skein and hang it to dry faster. When dry, drop the ball or skein in molten wax and let sit for several minutes. By pre-soaking the material in wax, your candles will light more easily and burn cleaner.How in the world was this discovered? I am not certain and have not been able to find a lot of information about where cotton wicks were invented, but I suspect, like many advances, it was done by accident. If you wash and soak spun cotton with traditional hand-made (high borax) soap in salt water, the wicking will burn. This was probably discovered on a seacoast and then spread elsewhere.Making candles from scratch is fun and is a bit like magic; families used to make their own lighting supplies in a big batch very year. Going through this process yourself- even once- gives you an appreciation of what life was like as well as an incredible sense of accomplishment.

[Casanova1405241497 0]

Thanks for sharing some inner secrets from your business.... And enlighting us .. Me too was really interested in candle making .All i wanted to make were Designer candles Due to their high price... I started slowly But I would end up making Shapless candles . So i quit that hobby..

[evought 0]

Thanks for sharing some inner secrets from your business.... And enlighting us .. Me too was really interested in candle making .All i wanted to make were Designer candles Due to their high price... I started slowly But I would end up making Shapless candles . So i quit that hobby..

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It does take a good bit of patience. I have made more than my share of shapeless lumps ;-) The nice thing about candles is they recycle easily. The mistakes just go back into the pot to get redipped or repoured.

 

I have a good number of people at craft shows say "Hey, I can do that." and "Aren't you worried that by telling everybody how you do this they will just make their own?" I don't make much that anyone couldn't make in their own kitchens, but most people won't take the time or have the patience to figure it out. What I love is the bit toward the end of the craft shows where the vendors will trade. I'd rather take someone else's things home than my own and there are a good number of things *I* don't have the time or patience to figure and cannot afford to buy with cash. Good woodworking, for instance. I can make tools, clapboards, shakes, racks and shelves, but I don't have the patience or skill for really delicate woodwork.

 

My wife and I just finished making several batches of dipped tapers (beeswax and beeswax/bayberry) for the festival this weekend. It is one of our biggest shows of the year.