I’m Using Two Wicks in an 8.5 cm Jar but a Strip of Unmelted Wax Remains Between Them — Should the Wicks Be Repositioned Rather than Increased in Size?

Why a strip between two wicks is a midpoint problem

Picture each flame melting a rough circle around its wick. Along the wick line, each circle has two jobs: reach the near wall on one side and the midpoint on the other. At our worked-example spacing of 55 mm in a 78 mm inside jar, the near wall is 11.5 mm away and the midpoint 27.5 mm. The wall side also gets help: the glass above and beside the pool warms, and wax against warm glass commonly melts sooner. The midpoint gets no such help. So a pair spaced wide will usually reach its walls first and leave a band of solid wax down the middle. That band is your strip.

The arithmetic is simple enough to do with a ruler. Strip width ≈ spacing − 2 × reach, where "reach" is how far each pool extends from its wick toward the centre by the end of a proper burn. In our worked example each pool reaches about 22 mm toward the centre by burn 3: 55 − 44 = 11 mm of strip, each pool stopping 5.5 mm short of the midpoint. Move each wick 5 mm inward and the midpoint is 2.5 mm closer to both flames; move them 10 mm in and it is 5 mm closer. That is why the ladder below steps in 5 mm and why a strip of 10 mm or so often closes within two rungs. It is geometry, not a promise: pools grow a little as flames get closer, and they don't grow in perfect circles.

When the strip is not a spacing problem

Three patterns look similar and aren't. Wax left at the walls as well, especially at right angles to the wick line: the pair may be too small, too close or both; separating those is the spacing × size 2 × 2. No strip, but a very hot, deep centre: the opposite fault, wicks too close, covered in the close-spacing post. A strip that closes by burn 3 on its own: first-burn catch-up; log two more burns before moving anything. And check the obvious first: sessions of about 3–4 hours in still air, wicks trimmed to about 5–6 mm, and both wicks the same size from the same pack.

Mark, pour, measure: getting the spacing you think you have

Wicks drift. Tabs slide on the base when hot wax hits them, holders sit a little off, and soy shrinks as it sets. A pair glued at 50 mm can burn at 47 mm, which is most of a rung. So the method has two halves: set the spacing precisely, then measure what you actually got and log that number, not the one you meant.

The Steel Wick Holder's fixed holes

The Steel Wick Holder page describes a "3-hole layout fits single, double, or triple wick setups" for jars "up to 9 cm wide", with the holes in a line. It states no hole spacing. So measure yours: centre to centre between neighbouring holes (the pitch) and between the outer holes (twice the pitch). Those are the only two pair spacings it can give you. If one of them matches a rung, it sets that rung quickly and identically every time; if none does, it can't run a 5 mm ladder, and a marked stick will. Once the ladder has chosen a spacing, a holder that matches it is worth having for production; one that doesn't will quietly move your wicks back to its own spacing.

The inward ladder: 5 mm a rung, sizes fixed

Hold everything but spacing: the same wick size in both positions (2 × Eco C1 in the worked example), the same wax, oil and load, the same 250 g fill (20 g of Blue Ocean + 230 g of CSI 464 at 8% of total weight), the same pour, cure and room. The Blue Ocean page states "candles (up to 10%)" and CSI 464's page "Fragrance Load Up to 10%", so 8% is inside both ceilings. Three rungs, two candles each: rung 0 at your current spacing (55 mm in the worked example), rung 1 at 5 mm in (50 mm), rung 2 at 10 mm in (45 mm). If your strip is narrower than 5 mm, one rung in may be all you need; if it is much wider than 10 mm, add a third rung rather than jumping.

Read the fifth column carefully: it is the price of moving in. Going from 55 to 45 mm puts each wick 4.2 mm further from the wall at right angles to the wick line. The near walls are easy at every rung; the sides are where a ladder that goes too far will show it first. That is why the rule below checks the sides, not just the strip.

With the 10 mm stickers instead, the ladder is ₹1,394.61. From nothing, the cash outlay is ₹1,876.40. Per candle, excluding the jar, a 2 × C1 Blue Ocean candle with two large stickers is ₹239.89; the same candle sized up to 2 × C2 would be ₹246.97, which is the ₹7.08 a candle the ladder is trying to save you. Costs are worked examples and exclude labour, freight, packaging and GST.

Reading the ladder

Read each rung after burn 3, both candles, on the same three things: the strip (0–1 mm counts as closed), the near walls along the wick line, and the walls at right angles to it (0–1 mm ring counts as reached). The thresholds are our judgement; keep them fixed across rungs.

In our worked example, rung 1 halves the strip to 5 mm and rung 2 closes it with the sides still reached at burn 3, so rung 2, 45 mm, goes to full life. Yours may close at rung 1, or not at all. Either answer is useful: the ladder has told you whether moving the wicks is the fix or whether the pair itself is short. Pairs commonly run warmer as the wax falls, so approve the winning spacing only after it has burned to about 1 cm left with the glass observed, never touched; the acceptance gates by depth are the how-far-down-to-burn post.

Where the starting spacing should have been in the first place, before any strip appeared, is the 9 cm placement post; if the pair is new and you are still choosing between one wick and two, start at the scorecard post.

What to buy, and what to skip

Six items, in the order the ladder needs them, chosen on page statements, price and stock on 29 September 2026. CSI publishes no wick-performance data, so nothing is ranked on burn results. Oil candle counts use the 250 g worked-example fill (20 g each) and the standard 150 g candle (12 g each).

Frequently asked questions