CANDLE-MAKING (Part I, Burning materials and the wick was published in Newsletter 9. The full article is taken from Candle Making in a Small Workroom by Frank Elsen and Pol Janssens of the ATOL Foundation in Leuven, Belgium. The full article first appeared in VRAAGBAAK Vol 14 No 2.
(VRAAGBAAK
is now
Part Il: The Dipping Method = 4)
renamed
AT-Source).
Candle making by the dipping method gives many possibilities: all! lengths and thicknesses of candles can be obtained and a hundred to more than a thousand candles per day can be made under relatively simple work conditions and using home-made appliances. Dipping works as follows: the wick is hung vertically and dipped into liquid (warm) wax, taken out and cooled. The wick at this point has a layer of wax on it. This process is repeated until the desired thickness is achieved. The length of the wick determines the length of the candle. The oldest method of dipping is by using two sticks of around 2cm diameter and 80-100cm long. On these two sticks the wicks are hung as in fig 1. Attach a weight to the bottom end of the suspended wicks, to ensure straight candles (any small piece of metal will serve as a weight). Wax or paraffin should be warmed up in one or more large pans, so that the suspended wicks can be easily dipped into them. Both sticks (or rods) should be kept a distance apart from each other so that they can easily be taken out and placed back into the pans. This is done using the middle and fore fingers. One can also fasten crossrods to the main sticks to maintain the correct distance from one another. With a bit of inventiveness one can place many containers beside each other so that using two rods more than ten candles can be dipped. By changing and rotating several pairs of rods, one can easily produce hundreds of candles per day. At the beginning two rods with suspended candles do not weigh much, but by the last dipping they may weigh 1 to 2kg; the dipping itself 8
Fic.
1
takes about 10 seconds and should be done very quickly. If one works with more than two rods at a time, one must take into consideration the strain it gives to one’s arms; especially if working with paraffins where, to achieve an even thickness, an even greater number of dippings must be made than when using beeswax. Arm-muscles are known to complain when using the dipping technique! Do consider your back and set the containers in a way that allows you to work with a straight back (for example, wax height 80cm above the ground). When working with beeswax consider the following:
The first dipping is of the bare wick,
and it may take 1 minute to ensure that all the air escapes out of the wick. The following dippings take 5 to 10 seconds (longer, and the wax melts back off again!). Between dippings the hardening/cooling-off time takes 3 minutes at the beginning and around 10 minutes at the end when the candle is thicker. To achieve a well-formed dipped candle, it is important that it is always dipped to the same depth. The movement in the dipping must also be continuous and smooth. Jerking movements or irregularity will show on the final candle, either as ring-form bands, or thick and thin areas. If the dipping movement is too quick then the new wax layer does not have the chance to adhere properly to the last layer of wax. This creates a grained surface on the candle with light and dark
blotches. This effect could be used deliberately during the last few dippings depending on one’s decorative ideas. In the workplace where candles are dipped, be careful that there is as little air movement as possible, and no draughts. It is not always easy to limit this, considering heating systems that demand fresh air. A draught is a problem, not only as we have already mentioned because of impurities, but also it causes the wax on the suspended candles to dry faster on one side, producing slanting candles. These candles do give light, but no one will want to buy them! In airy conditions, these various factors could cause a loss of about 10% or more.
Wax dyes
If you are dipping with a pale wax or
paraffin, during the last few dippings you can use a container to which colouring matter has been added. This way the candle has a shine on the outside. You can acquire deeper colours by adding dyes to all the wax, and in this case the inside of the candle will be coloured too.
Finishing touches The candles are taken off the rods, after which the pairs of candles, attached by the wicks, can be easily hung somewhere to harden. After 24 hours of hardening, the blunt bottom, above the weight hanging on the wick, is cut off with a sharp knife.
