Before the first burn, trim your wooden wick to 3mm-5mm. When lighting your candle for the first time, burn for at least three hours to allow the top of the wax to melt completely. This will prevent tunneling in the future. Always remember to trim your wooden wick before each use. Lastly, do not burn your candle for more than four hours at a time. Never burn a candle all the way through. Discontinue use when there is 1.5 cm approximately of wax remaining. At this point you can wash the tin and reuse and/or recycle.

The first burn of a candle is the most important! If a candle isn’t burned long enough for the wax to reach the edges of the container, it will create a “memory ring”. If this happens, the candle will only burn up until that point each time it is burned. Make sure on the first burn you allow the wax pool to reach the edges of the container. After that, the candle memory will allow the candle to burn evenly, without tunneling.

If your wood wick isn’t staying lit, it could mean that the wick is either too long or short. Don’t panic! Simply trim your wick for a proper burn. The easiest way to do this is by pinching off the top burnt bits with your fingernails or using a wick trimmer. To ensure a crisp burn, trim the wooden wick before each burn. We recommend a length of approximately 3mm-5 mm.

If you experience your wooden wick flickering, dwindling in size and/or burning out, there’s a chance there may be a ‘flaw’ in the timber of the wick. These are not always visible. Remember, no two wood wicks are identical). Keep in mind that some wooden wicks can take a few goes to get started. A few relights may be required. We’ve had some instances where it has taken between 3-5 tries.

Tunneling occurs when only a small portion of the wax around the wooden wick melts while the candle is burning. For example, your candle can tunnel if the flame is extinguished before it reaches its optimal burn time, leaving a literal vertical ‘tunnel’ around the outside. This leftover wax means your candle won’t achieve its maximum burn potential and can become difficult to light up later on. Of course, we never want this to happen to our customers, so please ensure you are burning your candle until the entire top layer is liquid wax. This way you ensure the wax sits evenly with no tunneling occurring.

If you have accidentally tunneled your candle, don’t stress! There’s an easy fix to this. You simply need to create a foil wrap around the sides and top of the tin, then poke a hole to light the wick. This process will create an ‘oven’ inside the candle for the edges to melt down. As a result, we recommend you leave your candle lit until all the wax has melted to the edge; as this forms a memory ring for the next burn.

Excellent question! We’re all about up cycling and reusing at NancyDianne. First, you need to remove any additional wax on the inside of the tin. You can do this by heating up your tins in low simmering water to melt the wax. Once all the wax has melted, discard the wick and add a little bit of water so it sets to a firm block. Next, remove the block of wax with a fork, then wash the inside with soap and water. Use a hairdryer when removing the label.

At NancyDianne, we enjoy being transparent regarding our candle making process. In our candles we only use virgin coconut soy wax because it is gluten free, vegan, toxin free, paraben free, phthalate free and comes from renewable sources. We only utilize eco-friendly, clean-burning, wooden wicks made from FSC Certified Wood, hand-crafted and made in the USA. We have high standards when choosing the fragrance oils to use when crafting each of our hand poured candles. For this reason, we use 100% phthalate-free and exclude materials with similar health concerns outlined in California’s Prop 65. Additionally, our packaging contains biodegradable peanuts with cards made from 100% post-consumer paper and water-activated tape.