A candle jar begins with a bean. Soybeans are pressed for oil, the oil is treated into a wax solid at room temperature, and that wax is what holds the fragrance for you over the dozens of hours to come. Our candles use soy wax blended by ZUNGZA, with a full cotton wick and essential oils we compose ourselves. The wax keeps its natural colour, so the jar you open is a pale ivory with no colouring at all.
When you light it, everything happens more slowly than imagined. The flame warms the wax around the wick, the wax melts into a small pool, and then the fragrance held in the wax spreads into the room with the heat. That melt pool needs time; usually about fifteen minutes before the scent begins to be clear in a room of about fifteen to twenty square metres. If the scent seems faint just after lighting, give it ten minutes more.
On the first lighting, we still advise letting the candle burn a full two hours, so the melt pool spreads right out to the wall of the cup. On later burns the candle wears down evenly along that first line, like walking on a road already opened. As for the wick, trim it to about five millimetres before each lighting, so the flame stays small, neat and with little smoke. A long wick means a big flame, and the wax melts faster than the fragrance can release.
What you see on the wax surface
Plant wax sets in its own way. A cooled candle surface is usually a little off in colour, speckled here and there with small holes, sometimes with faint veining like the face of stone. Two jars poured in the same session at the workshop still give two different wax surfaces, and this is normal for a soy wax candle. Use it as usual, because the wax beneath is whole.
If you want a more level wax surface, put the candle out and let the cup cool where it stands, away from draughts and without moving it while the wax is still liquid. We do exactly the same at the workshop, pouring in small rounds and then letting them cool slowly.
The same wax, three cups, three numbers
Hũ cinnamon cup with a lid holds one hundred and twenty-five grams of wax; the glass jar holds two hundred grams and burns about thirty-five to forty hours; and the two hundred and twenty gram concrete cup jar adds a few hours more. A larger cup holds more wax, and the numbers above are measured with a trimmed wick in a room without draughts.
A few questions you often send us
Does soy wax have a scent of its own
There is a very light base note, a sort of nutty smell, and when the candle cools this almost entirely quietens away.
Why is the scent sometimes fainter than you expect
A wide room, open doors or a running fan all thin the fragrance quickly. One jar suits a room of about fifteen to twenty square metres, and it is best to keep the door closed for the first fifteen minutes.
How long does a candle keep
The shelf life is three years from the date of production, kept somewhere cool and out of direct sun.
You can see the ranges on sale on the scented candles page, read more in the instructions for use, or visit the RUNG GIA candle jar.