Accidents happen! One of the amazing things about beeswax is that the mistakes we make while burning our candles can usually be remedied. 

Beeswax is precious - honey bees need to pollinate over 2 million flowers to make one pound of beeswax! We know you want to get the most out of your 100% beeswax candles, so here are a few common mistakes to avoid:

Never Move Your Burning Candle

While this seems straightforward, today, we are constantly moving around. To make sure that your wax pool burns evenly and that no wax is wasted you will want to pick a nice, safe spot for your candle, light it up, and leave it there to burn until you're ready to extinguish the flame. 

Use a candle safe plate and leave your candles in an area with no draft.

Keep The Candle Wick Upright

Every so often, you may notice your candle wick leaning in one direction or the other. You will want to use a tool to gently stand the wick back upright. This way, your candle will burn evenly all the way around and you will avoid tunneling or collapsing one side of the candle.

We're using the Wickman Wick Dipper to dip, extinguish, center and straighten our wick before trimming it back down to to ¼”.

Don't Trim Your Wick Too Short

If the wick becomes too short, sometimes it may be necessary to either pour out some of the extra melted wax or cut the sides of the candle down a bit so that the wick will have a chance to catch up and generate enough heat to burn a nice even melt pool all the way around to the edges of the candle. We try to avoid doing this, but when necessary the excess wax can be saved and used for other purposes.

Don't Let The Wick Get Too Long

We know, we know, we just told you not to trim the wick too short but there is also such a thing as a wick that is too long. A good rule of thumb will be to keep the wick at ¼” - not too long or too short! If the wick is too long the flame burns too hot and you risk tunneling your candle and spilling out all of the melted wax. 

A tunneled candle, or one that has an off center wick, can melt a hole in the outer shell letting all of the melted wax spill out. Keeping your wick trimmed to ¼” and making sure that it is centered will allow the candle to burn at its best.

If this happens, don't worry! There are plenty of uses for extra wax- check out our blog for some ideas!

Good Things Take Effort

This is another one that may seem straightforward but do not let your candle burn unsupervised. Beeswax candles do best when tended to in the above mentioned ways. Every so often, check in on your candle to make sure that it is melting evenly, that your wick is the appropriate length, and that it is in a safe, stable place.