In this tutorial we will be reviewing what we have found to be the best way in our own production to string a Candle Dippers™ Candlemaking Frame.
For beeswax taper candles we recommend Atkins & Pearce square braid cotton wicking. After extensive testing of wick diameters from 6/0 to 1/0, we settled on 4/0 for our 9" candles, ranging from 0.25" to 0.45" in diameter, and 2/0 for our 12" candles, ranging from 0.38" to 0.75". In other words, the longer the candle, the thicker the wick, is what seems to work best for us. This is despite the fact that, as the theory goes, the thicker the candle, the thicker the wick. Your mileage may vary.
Stringing the Frame
Start by tying one end of your wicking to the frame shaft above the top ring, as shown in Figure 1. In our method of stringing we use one continuous strand of wicking. Some gear that makes stringing much easier includes: a tripod, a panning base, a wick spool rack and our Magnetic Tripod Mount, with the tripod top assembly shown in Figure 2. Links to cost-effective gear for this and other common candlemaking workflows may be found on our Gear Tips page.
As shown in Figure 3, starting on the innermost concentric ring, pull the wicking down through one of the wick notches at the end of any four-notch grouping. Make sure you always have plenty of slack, so your wicking does not snag on your frame and slow the process. Pull the wicking through the corresponding bottom notch, then loop it around the cleat, and up through the next adjacent wick notch. See Figure 4 for detail.
You will repeat this process for each notch of the innermost ring, moving from notch to notch, and crossing the ring struts, as shown in Figure 5. To maintain control and adequate tension during manipulation of the frame (e.g., rotation on the tripod using the panning base), place your finger on the cleat you most recently passed, like holding a knot while tying a bow, as shown in Figure 6.
Take care not to over-tension the wicking, as this may put unnecessary strain on the frame, and negatively impact candle burn, since the wicking will be unable to absorb adequate wax from the melting kettle during production. Similarly, under-tensioning the wicking may cause it to slip from the frame, or allow it to drift from the weight of the wax, resulting in warped candles. With practice you will develop the right feel for it.
Once you have reached the end of the innermost ring, using the L-shaped hook next to the last notch you strung, pass the wicking over and then underneath it, and cross over to the next concentric ring. Be sure to start again on a notch at the end of a four-notch grouping. Note: when crossing from the middle to the outermost ring, starting notch selection does not matter, since there are no notch groupings nor struts to cross. This technique is shown in Figure 7.
At this point we should mention that you do not need to string every wick notch. How many you string depends on the diameters of the candles you are looking to create; how heavy (or light) you prefer the frame to be, once it is fully waxed; how fast you want to be able to string the frame (e.g., it is very fast to simply string only the outermost ring), and so on. In Figure 8 we show an example on the outermost ring of how you might skip some notches, if you are making larger-diameter candles.
The 9" Candle Dippers™ Candlemaking Frame is designed to support up to 90 0.25"-diameter candles. The wick notches are 0.5" apart. We recommend maintaining at least a 0.25" air gap between finished candles so they do not touch during waxing.
A simple rule of thumb is thus:
Candle diameter + 0.25", then move to the next available notch spacing if needed
In other words, you are finding the smallest spacing that is equal to or greater than the candle diameter plus the desired gap.
Say, for example, you want to make a batch of 0.5"-diameter candles. Our rule of thumb outputs 0.75", but there is no notch at 0.75" because notches occur every 0.5". The next available spacing is 1.0", so you skip one notch (the notch 0.5" away from the reference notch). This leaves at least a 0.25" gap between finished candles.
Once you finish stringing the outermost ring, you can bring the wicking back to the frame shaft, leaving yourself enough slack to tie a finishing knot, when you cut the strand from the spool. Or, you may save a few inches of wicking by tying the end to the ring itself (that's what we do). It really just depends how handy you are with knots - if you can't tie knots, tie lots!
And that's it - you have successfully strung your candlemaking frame! The remaining photos detail the finished top and bottom stringing patterns, as well as the overall finished view.
