Candles

A candle flame is a living light. It should be looked after and never left burning unattended.

Candle colors

Colored through

The color is already added to the liquid wax before the candle is made. The color is usually soluble.

Submerged

The candles are dipped in organic pigment-based colors. The advantage is that the colors are lightfast and do not migrate in the packaging.

Lacquered

For particularly decorative candles, these are finished with lacquers, especially gold, silver and high-gloss shades. Unusual candle surface effects can also be achieved with a metallic, ice crystal and glitter surface.

Security

For safe handling of candles ...
  • ... Never leave a burning light unattended!
  • ... Place your Advent wreath on a fireproof base and make sure that the candles are upright and straight...
  • ... Keep children away from the fire!
  • ... Do not blow out candles, but extinguish them. Otherwise, glowing particles can fall onto the branches in combination with natural materials on wreaths and set them on fire even hours later.

Carbon black

To avoid sooting, the candle should not be exposed to draughts, which prevents the candle from dripping or sooting. To prevent after-smoking when extinguishing candles, the wick can be carefully dipped into the liquid wax and raised again.

Correct burning

To ensure that the candle burns evenly, candles should always burn until the entire diameter has become liquid. If an edge remains on thick candles, it can be pressed inwards slightly when warm. If the candle burns on one side, avoid draughts and carefully bend the wick into the middle of the candle. If a flame is too large, the wick can be carefully shortened during burning.

Further tips

And a few more tips ...
Keep the candle free of impurities, such as match residue, and do not place candles too close together. If they are too deep, they will start to flicker.

Materials

Beeswax

Beeswax is a metabolic end product of the honey bee. The worker bee secretes wax from its wax glands to build brood and honeycombs. These combs can be melted and are then sold as raw beeswax.

Kerosene

Kerosene wax was first used for candle production between 1830 and 1840 and is now mainly obtained from the fossil raw material crude oil.

Stearin In 1825, the French chemists Gay Lussac and Chevreul succeeded in producing stearic acid from animal fats (tallow). Today, stearic acid is obtained from natural oils and fats (e.g. palm oil) using state-of-the-art technology.

Manufacture

Candle making

Today, candles are pulled using a large tractor with 2 drums, each 1.5 m in diameter. Several meters of wick run around the drums. The bottom drum passes through a wax bath and picks up the wax. As it continues to rotate, the wax cools down until it ends up in the wax bath again. This is repeated as often as required until the desired candle diameter is reached, after which it is processed further by machine. The wick is then added with a pipe needle.

Surfacing

In the production of solid-colored candles, a wick is stretched on a metal frame and repeatedly dipped into the wax until the desired candle thickness is reached.

Patinating / painting / printing

Candles can then be decorated by hand painting, glazing or machine printing.

RAL dimension for candles

This designation regulation specifies that the length and diameter of a candle is given in millimeters - from the base of the candle to the wick outlet. E.g. 100/60 - 100 mm length and 60 mm diameter.

Good to know...

  • The higher the proportion of color pigment, the lower the wick's absorbency. Dark-colored candles are therefore more likely to drip than light-colored candles.
  • Wax stains on textiles can be ironed out with blotting paper
  • Wax residue in candlesticks can be removed by heating, e.g. with a hot water bath, soda or washing-up liquid
  • When do candles crackle? In rare cases, when the wick has absorbed water.

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