Every decision of ours about materials begins with the cup. When you build a candle cup from a whole length of cinnamon bark, that is, from the bark of a tree that has lived fifteen years, that cup sets its own conditions. Tree bark can take gentle warmth, but it does not like high heat and it does not like heat for long.
Soy wax answers exactly those conditions. It is a plant wax, taken from soybean oil treated into a solid at room temperature, soft and melting at a low temperature. The whole jar therefore burns slowly, the heat spreads evenly, and the cup of tree bark keeps its shape through thirty-five to forty hours of burning.
We speak of the kinds of wax by way of description, not ranking one above another. Each group of waxes has its own way of working, its own melting point, and a candle maker chooses by the cup, by the wick, by the direction of scent they want. With ZUNGZA the cup speaks first, and soy wax is the most fitting answer for that cup.
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 still have two different wax surfaces, and this is normal for a soy wax candle.
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. Wax that cools slowly gives a smoother face, exactly as we do at the workshop when pouring in small rounds.
How it burns and how it releases scent
The flame warms the wax around the wick, the wax melts into a small pool, and the fragrance held in the wax spreads into the room with the heat. The melt pool needs time; usually about fifteen minutes before you notice the scent clearly in a room of about fifteen to twenty square metres.
On the first lighting, let 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 and neat.
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 are ZUNGZA candles a pale ivory
Because the wax keeps its natural colour; we add no colouring to the wax.
How long does one candle jar burn
The one hundred and twenty-five gram cinnamon bark cup jar burns thirty-five to forty hours. The two hundred gram glass cup jar and the two hundred and twenty gram concrete cup jar burn fifty to fifty-five hours.
You can read more about the cup in the piece RUNG GIA scented candle, or see the ranges on sale on the scented candles page và shop.