Candle designers

[paulney]

A lot of places sell large tall candles for outdoor illumination (patio and the like). I gots meself some at Ikea with nice glass candle holders. They help create a very nice atmosphere when you are whiling away the time sitting under the stars and having a drink.

However, candle design seriously blows: the flame height and heat is not enough to melt the entire surface evenly, because the candle diameter is too big! So, as the wick is slowly burning out, the flame gradually descends inside the candle, deeper and deeper into the wax, until all the light is completely obscured by the candle walls that have not melted.

If you design an outdoor candle (I am not talking about decorative stuff, which is obviously not meant to burn evenly if at all), invest some time to actually come up with a proper height to diameter ratio, so that the candle burns properly!

That's all.

 

[troytime]

a candle rant, neat!

 

[Leros]

The cheap crappy wal-mart candles burn to the edge of the jar.

 

[dawp]

Ya know, if you don't like the store bought, you can make your own.

 

[Newbian]

The only good candle wax is when it's dripping on your ass.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

Just when I think that I've seen everything on the Intarnets, this comes up.

 

[jamesbond007]

A rant about the design of a product from...wait for it...Ikea?!? Really, who woulda thunk? I think it's time to step up your standards, pal.

 

[racolvin]

Proper wick selection for a candle requires a lot of testing trial and error - I know, I make candles as a hobby (used to do it as a business in fact). Most cheap candles aren't wicked properly due to laziness, expense, and product liability issues. If its wicked too small for the container then there is little chance of it getting too hot to handle or of an imperfection in the glass causing it to shatter due to heat expansion. Good luck with most of those candle actually having the wick properly centered as well.

 

[mugs]

Are you talking about candles in jars, or just the wide wax pillar candles? If they designed the wide pillar candles to burn all the way to the sides, the wax would run down the side (like with a tall, skinny candle) and they wouldn't burn as long.