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| Fully consumed soy candle. |
Clean Burning
One of the most famous (and fabulous) benefits of soy candles is how clean they burn. Soy wax doesn't produce the black soot that paraffin does. Creative Kharma 100% soy candles will not soot if you follow the basic guidelines for all candle burning. (You will find some tips and tricks for getting the most from your soy candle at the end of this page.) With any candle, wicks should be kept trimmed to 1/4" and centered. (Center the wick by nudging it to the center after exinguishing, but before the wax hardens.)
Supports the American Economy
We use American soy wax brands. This means the soy beans are grown in American fields, and processed into soy wax in the US as well. Parrafin is a petroleum processing by-product. Made from American-grown soybeans, soy wax is biodegradable, a renewable resource, and from a global point of view, it "supports the U.S. economy instead of foreign oil conglomerates."
Cost Effective
A point which sometimes isn't included in many lists of the benefits of soy candles. In most cases soy wax candles can be far more cost effective than paraffin. In an ounce by ounce comparison, soy will burn an average of twice as long as a same size parrafin candle, and since soy is completely consumed, there is far less waste. We've all experienced it...the parrafin candle burns in a "tunnel" down the middle of the candle, leaving you with half or more of the wax to throw away. So, although your initial cost may be slightly higher than a same size parrafin candle, the absolute lack of waste makes the soy candle a far better investment.
Wonderful Scent Throw
When it's said that a candle scent "throws well", this means it fills the room with a strong, lasting scent. In my experience soy supports excellent scent throw due to the consistent full width "scent pool" (scent pool is the term I use when referring to the pool of melted wax that warms the oils and releases the scent into the air.) Unlike parrafin, when burned properly, soy will never tunnel.
Environmentally Sound
Soy wax is made from soy bean oil, a highly renewable resource. It is fully biodegradable and cleans up with warm soapy water. Soy bean plants are from the legume family, so - unlike many other possible crops, soy bean plants fix nitrogen in the soil, making soy a soil sustaining crop on top of all the other beneficial aspects of the humble soy bean.
Read more: The Effects of Breathing Parrafin Wax
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5608131_effects-breathing-parrafin-wax.html#ixzz1CHNWNJ33
The F.A.Q. about Creative Kharma Soy Candles
Is your wax 100% Soy?
Yes. Creative Kharma soy candles are made using food grade 100% soy wax.
What kind of wick do you use?
We use Fil-Tec Ultra-Core © wicks. These wicks have a tightly wound filament core, no lead or zinc.
Do you scent with essential oils?
No. Using pure essential oils would make your cost prohibitively high. The oils we use are fragrance oils blended from both "natural" and "synthetic" sources. (However, to minimize the impact of any synthetics (usually less than 2% by volume) in each fragrance - we choose fragrances that are blended in a soy oil carrier.) This allows us to produce an intensely fragranced candle at a price far less than you would expect.
How can you afford to sell your candles at near wholesale prices?
We control our prices by buying our wax locally, avoiding shipping costs. Additionally, we buy wicks in extreme bulk to get the best price, we buy jars locally, again avoiding shipping costs. We buy our fragrance oils in quantity as well, to minimize shipping per unit. All this coupled with the fact that we hand pour each and every candle, sell them in our own shop, and strive to keep our costs at a minimum allows us to offer top quality highly scented 100% soy candles to you at wholesale rates.
How long will these candles burn?
Pint Canning Jar = 15.5 oz. Will burn 120+ hours*
1/2 Pint Canning Jar = 7.5 oz. Will burn 60-70 hours*
*Burn times are approximate and based solely on our experience in the shop, burning properly - with wicks trimmed, centered etc. and candle kept from drafty conditions.
Tips & Tricks to Safe Burning & Getting the Most From Your Soy Candle
•Each time before you light your candle, trim the wick down to 1/4".
•Do not allow wick trimmings to fall into the melted wax pool.
•Burn candles in areas free from drafts.
To ensure full consumption of yor soy candle, each time you light it, burn it long enough that the surface of the wax melts all the way across the container. It is possible to force a soy candle to burn unevenly if it is only burned a few minutes at a time throughout the life of the candle. This is due to the wax along the outside of the container not being heated enough to allow it to flow into the melt pool.
You can burn a candle too long, however. The maximum recommended burn time is 4 hours per burn. Burning longer than the recommended time can be dangerous, especially if combined with improper wick trimming. Although we use heat-safe glass, an improperly trimmed wick can create a high flame and temperature forming a deep melt pool and could potentially damage the container. So, check your wick and container a minimum of every 4 hours.
If your wick is too long, mushroomed or not centered, extinguish the candle and center the wick with something non-flammable (I use a metal nail file or a chopstick) by pressing the wick to center and holding it for a second or two. It is best to press the wick at the base of the melt pool. Then, trim your wick and relight. Another note from my experience - It is best to use the dip method of extinguishing - push the wick over into the melted wax then straighten it out. Again, I use a metal nail file. This allows you to put out the flame without any smoldering if your wick is too long.
Because Creative Kharma uses the maximum scent possible it is doubly important to keep your wicks trimmed. Heavily scented candles have the potential to cause "mushrooming" of the wick. A wick that has mushroomed will sometimes smoke or soot due to the carbon residue from the burning of the wick itself. Not all scents will always cause mushrooming, but to avoid the possibility, please remember to keep wicks trimmed to 1/4 inch.
Soy wax cleans up easily with soap and water, but remember it is still a wax and should not be poured down the drain. We pour the remainder of the melted wax from a candle onto paper toweling in the garbage and wipe the container clean with paper towel, then run the container through a hot soapy water wash. Creative Kharma offers a recycling program for your cleaned, used candle containers. You receive $1.00 off your next candle purchase for each clean jar you return to us. (One jar = $1.00 off one candle.) We apologise, but we can no longer offer a bounty for jars returned dirty.
One last safety item. Discontinue burning your candle when you can see that the top of the wax is near the top of the metal wick holder. (Silver round thing in the bottom of the container.) Continuing to burn any candle when the wax is below the top of the wick tab is a fire hazard. The flame, when sitting too close to or directly on top of the wick tab with no wax buffer, will superheat the wick tab and could cause the wax to burst into flames and/or cause the container to shatter.
Hopefully this information is helpful to you in making choices about the types of candle you will burn in your home. We hope you will always follow safe candle burning practices while you enjoy the ambiance provided by candlelight.
