15/06/2026
Answer: About 4 days ago i posted these two images and asked for feedback on what you think had happened. Thank you to all those who participated.
Because we did not make these candles ourselves, we can only go off the information that was given and deduce the issue based on what is presented before us.
1) the glass used was candle specific, so it wasn't the jar
2) in the first image instance, the image clearly shows the candle was burnt to absolute nothing. There is not a skerrick of wax left nor wick. Now, although like many of you have already stated that you also do, I power burn my candles to mimic customers WHO DO NOT follow the instructions, and this still should not have happened. The ultimate give away is the amount of soot around the top of the glass. This candle has been way overwicked. A correctly wicked candle will not produce soot and this one was absolutely smoking. Now the customer says they used the 'wick suggestion' HOWEVER as i posted last week, a suggestion is just that! a 'SUGGESTION' to give you a starting point. It is by no means the 'set in stone' 'this is the answer' wick for this jar. So many factors affect what size wick you need. We cannot possibly list all the scenarios for wicks, glassware and the type of wax that is used, so we suggest a baseline to start from. It is up to you then as the 'maker' to test what you make and adjust your product accordingly. This wick did not like the combination of dye or fragrance.
3)The amount of sooting at the top of the jar not only indicates over wicking, but also possibly that too much fragrance and too much dye were used. Again you should be able to use quite a bit of dye without it affecting the candle too much, but the overall combination that was used in this instance was not compatible.
4)The second image also has some very tell tale signs that point to over wicking. The melt pool on that jar is almost half way. It is a very very deep melt pool. You need and extremely hot burning candle to achieve this depth of melt pool in such a short time. Not much wax is missing which also shows it hadn't really been burning that long before it achieved that deep melt pool.
5) If you look closely at the wick in the second image you can also see it is quite tall. If the wick is clogged with excess dye and fragrance it will not 'self trim'. This will cause the flame to grow and become quite large, which in turn will heat your wax and jar and create a perfect storm for an overly large melt pool and potential jar failure, which is what has happened in this case. The fact the entire top has sheered off in one piece shows that this jar got so extremely hot, that the glass just cracked in a perfect circle, all the way around.
6)What we also know is that this maker also 'recycles' and 'refills' jars. I am a huge fan of reusing my own stock, however, once you start refilling jars that have been sent away and out of your site, you have then lost the certainty of how that jar has been treated and handled. Glass (as we all know) does not travel all that well in some cases and to go from us, to you, to the customer, then back to you can result in all sorts of trauma. It also has to be washed out. It's not hard to get a hairline fracture from the tiniest 'clink' together on another glass. It's not hard to stress that glass during the washing process or during transport. If your glass does have a hairline fracture then this usually shows itself during the pour process, but will definitely show itself upon burning. If you want to refill jars then go ahead, but make sure you examine each one for it's suitability and integrity. There will come a time when a particular jar will need to be retired and used for something else just to be safe.
If you are buying your supplies from a reputable supplier who knows what they are doing (not just importing glass and wax from china and reselling) then your supplies will not fail. All of these supplies came from us. The glass did not fail! The wick did not fail! The fragrance did not fail! The whole system failed. The candle was not tested and adjusted accordingly. Did the jar have a fracture in it before hand????? Who knows. My guess is no! These images are perfect examples of why you need to understand what you are doing and why and how to fix issues. Just because you have been making candles for 5 years doesn't mean you have been making them correctly or safely all this time. Do your due diligence! And if you don't know, then please ask us. We have over 70+ years of candle making experience. We have seen it all! We know what we are doing! Happy safe candlemaking!
