Expert: Peter Loedden - 1/31/2001

Question
Hi there, Other than of course buying candle wicks, is there ANY other material that can be used as a wick and will work reasonably well.  I thought someone told me to use a shoe lace, but It was in high school a long time ago and may be remembering wrong.  Thank you for your knowledge!  Mary :)

Answer
Mary,
you can use pretty well anything you like to burn candles. The only thing is though that over the years a proper relationship has been found between wick(size) and diameter of the candle to be burnt. Everything else is trial and error to find the right relationship, now not only to match the wick size to candle size, but materials also burn at different speeds and temperatures. But there is nothing like experimenting! For instance, beeswax needs a wick which burns at a higher temperature, because it has a higher melting point. For my beeswax candles I use regular wick for my smaller candles, jute and hemp wick for the larger candles. The great thing with candles is, that if they don't burn right, you melt them down and start over, nothing is lost, only experience gained, and yes, shoelaces have been used to burn candles .
Good luck.
Peter