# 6" or 5" tapers



## snl

Six inch. Have never seen a five inch taper candle.


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## SRatcliff

snl said:


> Six inch. Have never seen a five inch taper candle.


There are a few on etsy, but 6" do seem to be more standard.


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## Bee Bliss

Is that your homemade mold? What went wrong?


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## SRatcliff

Bee Bliss said:


> Is that your homemade mold? What went wrong?


It was one of my homemade ones. I think when I was coating the original candal with silicone mix, I was holding the candle by the base, and coated the base after the rest of the silicone was dry. I think I have to coat the whole candle at the same time. I started getting bumps at the bottom when making the candles. The rest of them look really good and smooth.


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## Michael Palmer

Stuart, when you wick the mold, don't use pieces. Run the wick up through the mold but don't cut it from the spool of wicking. When the candle cools, pull it from the mold...which pulls more wick off the roll and re-wicks the mold...without struggling to get the wick through the little hole on the mold.


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## SRatcliff

Michael Palmer said:


> Stuart, when you wick the mold, don't use pieces. Run the wick up through the mold but don't cut it from the spool of wicking. When the candle cools, pull it from the mold...which pulls more wick off the roll and re-wicks the mold...without struggling to get the wick through the little hole on the mold.


Thanks. I need to get more spools of wick!


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## beegeorge

if you want a candle mold that is made in one pour, not gobbled on, let me know, I work with molding all sorts of things and have access to a variety of silicone products for making molds


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## SRatcliff

beegeorge said:


> if you want a candle mold that is made in one pour, not gobbled on, let me know, I work with molding all sorts of things and have access to a variety of silicone products for making molds


Thanks I may send you a message. I actually just put on one coat of my silicone mix, let it cure for a few min, and then jam it into the larger mix.


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## beegeorge

we take what you want molded, build a container around it and pour the silicone around the object, therefore there are no voids or other abnormalities. depending on how stiff you want the mold, we use different durometer silicones. depending on what you want molded, it can be a simple one cavity mold or it can be a split mold, that we will discuss on the phone.


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## Bee Bliss

I don't really see any bumps at the base of the candle (side or bottom?). 

If you are going to make a lot of tapers, you could/should get a bottom finisher that Betterbee sells. It finishes up the bottom nicely, make grooves at the bottom and it is then easier to place the taper firmly in the base of a candle holder (has a little give). It's very possible that the bumps would be fixed in the candle base former.

I snip the wick at the bottom of the candle after I remove it from the mold. Put the taper in the former and then touch the bottom to the hot shallow pan that I have the former resting in. Actually I use that pan to finish the bottoms of all the other candles, also. Watch the temp.

If eventually bits of wax get stuck inside the mold, just place mold in hot water enough to melt the beeswax. Beeswax melts at 147* approximately.

~ Bee Bliss


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## SRatcliff

Bee Bliss said:


> I don't really see any bumps at the base of the candle (side or bottom?).
> 
> If you are going to make a lot of tapers, you could/should get a bottom finisher that Betterbee sells. It finishes up the bottom nicely, make grooves at the bottom and it is then easier to place the taper firmly in the base of a candle holder (has a little give). It's very possible that the bumps would be fixed in the candle base former.
> 
> I snip the wick at the bottom of the candle after I remove it from the mold. Put the taper in the former and then touch the bottom to the hot shallow pan that I have the former resting in. Actually I use that pan to finish the bottoms of all the other candles, also. Watch the temp.
> 
> If eventually bits of wax get stuck inside the mold, just place mold in hot water enough to melt the beeswax. Beeswax melts at 147* approximately.
> 
> ~ Bee Bliss


The bumps were on the mold that I cut down to 6", the other is from my good 8" mold. Thanks for the base former idea.


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