TREAT YOUR CANDLE AS A PET

You’re conflicted. You want a pet, but at the same time you want to go on holiday without having to worry about your little guy at home. Right? Well, we have a solution for you. Get a candle!

A candle? You may ask. How does that fill the ever yearning gap in my heart?

Like a little kitten they smell absolutely delicious and they add great value in your house. However, they are really quite high maintenance and actually require a significant amount of TLC at times.

You’ve gotten a new candle and you’re so excited for its long life of providing you with a distinct smell in your house. With this comes responsibility. 

Here's how we suggest caring for your new pet.

ENSURING AN EVEN CANDLE BURN

When lighting a candle for the first time, it is important you let it burn for a while. This is to ensure the entire surface of the candle melts before you put it out (this is a timely process, so make sure you have a really really really long bath). If you skip this step, the wax will melt unevenly, which will result in it melting unevenly. 

KEEPING THE CANDLE CLEAN

Once the candle has been used a couple times, an arrival of soot (a deep black powdery or flakey substance) may appear. The moment you notice this, clean it! Use tweezers (or something along those lines) to clean the wick trimmings from your candle wax and use a dry towel to wipe away soot, fingerprints and anything which is ruining the aesthetic.

TRIM THE CANDLES WICK

Okay, but, before cleaning the candle, make sure your candle's wick is the correct length. This may require you to do some trimming. If the wick is longer than the recommended 0.25 inches (which is roughly about the size of a jelly bean) use scissors to neatly trim it. A wick too short has the potential of getting lost in a puddle of melted wax causing failure to light. 

MINIMISING MESS WHEN PUTTING OUT YOUR CANDLE 

Once you have had your bath, and it's time to put your candle out, do so carefully. If your candle came in a jar, you can put it out by placing the lid back on. Or you could invest in a proper snuffer. If you blow too hard, this can cause wax to splatter everywhere not only leaving a major mess for you to clean up, but also wasting your wax.

THE END OF YOUR CANDLES LIFE

You should try to end the life of your candle with a little wax left with it. This would be suggested as if you allow your candle to burn all the way, it will end up overheating the container which will cause damage and create a mess. Most candle experts suggest ending your candle's life with about 0.5 inches of wax left in it. 

Once the candles are resting peacefully, you can always clean the wax out and reuse the container or better yet, get rekindle candles to do it for you. You can do this by either filling your candle up with warm water allowing it to loosen up or by placing it in the freezer. Wax shrinks when frozen, allowing it to separate from the walls of its container. After leaving your candle in the freezer overnight, it's as simple as flipping it upside down and scraping off the wax with a spoon or butter knife. This is the cleanest and easiest of methods.

Our three favourite local candles brands are via wax, okra and re-kindle candles.