# tea light wick problem



## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

I bought a kit at Hobby Lobby for tea lights and made a dozen candles. The wicks looked a bit thicker than some I've seen in other wax tealight candles, but they are burning out quicker than the wax burns. What am I doing wrong? Also I have a whole bag of tealight tins with wicks I got on clearance and I wondered if putting 2 wicks in per tin might work? Has anyone tried that? 
I want to give some candles for Christmas presents and don't really want to order new supplies. I have a roll of 60ply (I think that's what it is, thick wicks for votives) but I want to make more tealights too. Seems alot to use for a tealight, has anyone done that?
Thanks


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## HONEYDEW (Mar 9, 2007)

More than likely the kit was meant for paraffin not beeswax, beeswax has to be nearly spotlessly clean and thicker wicked than paraffin. As simple as they sound I have made dozens with minimal luck...


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## Michael Johnston (Nov 25, 2007)

I've bought my wicks for tea lites from Betterbee and have had no problem with them burning correctly. One tea lite will burn for around 4 hours. Betterbee is terribly slow in filling their orders. Their packages of approximately 100 wicks are usually fairly well short of 100. Otherwise, the wicks are O.K.


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

Do not use 60 ply for a tea light. I have used 60 ply for a 3" dia. pillar BW candle. Mann Lake is another good place to buy supplies for making beeswax candles. There is a difference in paraffin wax and beeswax. Beeswax requires higher temps to melt at and so needs a thicker wick. As you are finding out, wicks that work for paraffin do not work for beeswax candles. It is important to test burn your beeswax candles in order to get it right.

I burned a BW tea light candle in the "plastic" cups once and the cup melted somewhat. So be careful. Beeswax candles burn hotter than paraffin.

A wick that is too small will not have enough flame to be able to melt the wax which is the fuel which feeds the flame. The flame starves.

I use 2/0 (pronounced two aught) square braided wick for votives which are about the same diameter as tea lights. Not sure if that would work for tea lights. I use 4/0 for birthday candles.


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

I filter my wax 3 times (1st with cheesecloth, 2x coffee filters) so I don't think that's the problem. For now I wil remelt all the tealites and make votives. I have a smal package of 2/0 and will use that for the remainder of my candles until my next batch of wax. I made about 5 votive candles for my own use with the 60 ply, and they burn fine. Thanks everyone.


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## savage_sultin (Nov 30, 2011)

Honeydew is right, paraffin wicks won't burn in beeswax. Learned that already


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