Candles get less than the credit they deserve – because they can be used for just about anything. Scented candles can get rid of moldy smells in the toilet or a weird smell in the apartment. It helps bring good vibes and stress relief after a long day’s work.
Of course, candles are meant to provide light when the power goes out. You can light a bunch of them so you can navigate at home with few issues. Whether you buy candles or make them at home to your specific taste, they’re indeed a must-have at home. Candle burning is natural to a household as cracking open the window to let some fresh air in. Check out following methods to burn your candle longer.
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10 Ways to Burn a Candle Last Longer
If you already know how to use candles safely, your next quest probably knows how you can make them last longer. Fortunately, many quick hacks might help you get more from your candles than you already are getting. If you want to burn your candles longer and safer, follow our pieces of sage advice.
1.Try Freezing the Candle
This might sound unorthodox, but it does work. Freezing candles just a few hours before lighting them will significantly cool the wax, impeding the flame. The wax will still burn, but at a slower rate.
Perfect when you want a low flame and enjoy the scent of the wax as it dissipates gradually. Also, perform this hack if you feel that the brand of candles you have at home burn out too quickly. Some wax blends are just too efficient.
2.Trim the Wick
“A big wick is a good thing.” A big wick is a terrible news for candles because the flame often grows too big, and it melts the wax too quickly, too.
If you are using an ordinary candle without a container, the over-burn will result in lots of wax dripping over one edge and a dead candle in an hour or two.
If you want to get better performance from your candle, you better trim the wick before lighting it. If the flame becomes massive, that’s because the wick is getting longer and longer as the heat digs a crater in the center of your candle.
3.Allow the Flame to Consume the Surrounding Wax
Many people commit this mistake daily. They light a scented candle for fifteen minutes or less, then blow the flame out because they’ve already had their fill of the fragrance.
On a technical level, this isn’t the most efficient way to use your candles. When you light a candle, the surrounding wax softens, too.
The flame has to catch up with all that melted wax to maintain a consistent depth about the melted wax.
Otherwise, there will be pooling in the center of the candle. Don’t worry too much about how many candles you have left – let your candle burn for a few hours so the melted wax is consumed and your wick is conserved.
4.Protect your Candle/s from Wind and Drafts
Fans, ACs, and drafty windows are just some of the things that are ultimately bad for lit candles. Currents affect the direction and burn rate of candles, and the more the flame moves, the more uneven the candle gets. If possible, put your candle in the corner of the room where there aren’t any drafts.
5.Wrap the Candle in Aluminum Foil.
If your candle has been burning unevenly for weeks now, you may have noticed that columns are forming on any of the sides of the container. Instead of trying to scrape down the wax, what you can do is create a cylinder made of aluminum foil around the container.
The aluminum foil will heat the edges of the container sufficiently to melt the cold wax. Eventually, the hard wax will fall to the center of the container, and you will have a more even candle in no time.
6.A Sprinkle of Salt!
Again, this will sound weird, but it simply works. Before blowing out your candle, sprinkle a teensy amount of salt around the wick and stir the melted wax so it blends with the salt. The salt will harden with the resin and cause the wax to feed into the wick more slowly next time.
7.Watch the Burning Time
As much as we want to use candles all night, candles in glass containers reach their limit after some time. Candles can explode when the flame gets too high, and the wax becomes too hot, overcoming the heat capacity of the glass container.
To avoid this problem, always use candles no more than four hours at a time, even if you have just bought the candle. The combined heat within the vessel produces pressure that presses against the glass, too. Better safe than sorry!
8.Never Use Water
Water might put out flames quickly, but they mess with the wax and the candle in general. Water does not help conserve your candle; it can only make your candles messy and inefficient.
9.Let the Wax Cool Down Completely
If you want to use a candle again after blowing out the flame, you need to allow the wax to solidify completely. The wax has to be completely cool to touch and somewhat hard before relighting the candle. Otherwise, you run the risk of encouraging pooling in your candle.
10.Use the Right Kind of Candle
If you are trying to make a considerable living room fragrant, you cannot possibly achieve that with teacup candles. It would help if you had larger candles, perhaps those with two wicks per container, to serve larger spaces. Appropriate sizing is essential when using candles, too.
Candle making is easy and fun! Find our candle making supplies to DIY your own candle.
More articles about candle making you may interest:
How to Make Healing Crystal Candle?
How to Make Candle Burn Evenly and Fix Candle Tunnelling?
