Candle care
How to care for a soy candle
A soy candle is not a switch. Give the first burn a long enough evening, keep the wick short, and the vessel will stay honest for every night after.
We pour Hartisans in a Durango kitchen — 100% soy, a cotton wick, CandleScience fragrance oil, no label on the ceramic. Care is simple because the candle is simple. Most of what goes wrong in a room is a short first burn or a wick left too tall.
The four habits that matter
- First burn: leave it lit until the melt pool reaches the edges. Usually two to three hours in our vessels.
- Every burn after: trim the wick to about a quarter inch when the wax is cold and firm.
- Stay in the room. Three to four hours is enough. Do not leave a candle unattended.
- When the wax is gone, the vessel is not. Clean it out and plant something, or keep it for matches.
Soy remembers the first shape it is allowed to take. If you blow it out while the pool is still a small well, the next burns will follow that well. That is tunneling. It is not a defect in the oil. It is a short evening.
What we do not do
We do not print a burn-hour promise we have not sat with. Fill weight, vessel, wick, and how you burn it all change the life of a jar. An 8.5 oz pour, treated as above, lasts many ordinary evenings. If a wick mushrooms, smokes, or walks, trim it cold and try again. If it still fails, write us. We keep notes on every oil we sell.
Scent lives on the bottom of the vessel. If a guest asks what they are smelling, turn the jar over.
Questions
- How do I stop a soy candle from tunneling?
- Give the first burn two to three hours, until the melt reaches the edges. Soy will keep following a short first pool if you let it set that way.
- How often should I trim the wick?
- Before each lighting, once the wax is cold. A quarter inch is enough. A long wick smokes and can walk.
- Can I reuse a Hartisans vessel?
- Yes. That is the point. Warm the last wax, wipe it out, and plant, or keep the jar on the shelf.