Candle Making Guides
Two focused guides, one for each side of getting a candle right: pick the wick before you pour, and fix what's already gone wrong once it's burning.
Guides
Candle Wick Guide
A reference chart for choosing a wick by container diameter, covering CD, ECO, HTP and wood wick families — plus what the chart can't tell you until you run a real burn test.
Read the guide →Candle Troubleshooting
Nine common candle problems — tunneling, soot, frosting, wet spots and more — diagnosed step by step with the free Candle Doctor tool.
Read the guide →Related Calculators
- Candle Calculator
- Candle Wax Calculator
- Fragrance Load Calculator
- Candle Cost Calculator
- Candle Batch Calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
How many candle-making guides does Faluma have?
Two today — Candle Wick Guide and Candle Troubleshooting. This page will grow as new guides are published.
What's the difference between a guide and a calculator?
A guide is something you read: a reference chart or a diagnosis walkthrough. A calculator takes your own numbers — container size, wax, fragrance — and returns a recipe or a cost. This page only lists guides; calculators are linked separately above, under Related Calculators.
Candle Wick Guide — How to Choose the Right Wick Size and Series
The right wick isn't guesswork — it starts with your container's diameter, checked against a size chart, then confirmed with a real burn test. This guide walks through how Faluma's wick sizing works, gives you the full reference chart across the four wick families it supports, and tells you exactly what that chart can't decide for you.
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1Create your candle
The candle making calculator: measure your container, choose your wax and fragrance, and get quantities, costs and pricing updated live right next to you.
Mold
Cylindrical container? Use Diameter/Height. Irregular shape? Use Water weight.
For regular cylindrical molds.
Recommended for irregular containers: fill the container with water up to the desired level and weigh it.
Wax & fragrance
Results
Your recipe, calculated in real time.
Candle economics
1 Production cost
FREEHere's what it costs you to make this candle.
✅ The cost updates in real time as you change ingredients.
2 Suggested selling price
★ PREMIUMUnlock wholesale and retail suggested pricing based on your real cost.
- 🔒Based on your real cost
- 🔒Wholesale and retail, your choice
Unlock prices and margins with Candle Calculator Premium.
3 Estimated margin
★ PREMIUMSee how much you can earn on every candle sold.
- 🔒Based on the suggested selling price
- 🔒Updates in real time
Unlock prices and margins with Candle Calculator Premium.
2 Suggested selling price
Pick a multiplier: the price updates automatically from your real cost.
3 Estimated margin
On the suggested retail price
These values are estimates based on your inputs. Always verify with real tests and adjust to your needs.
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Candle Doctor
A guided 3-step diagnosis: pick the symptom and get the likely cause, what to check, and what to try in your next test.
All the tools to turn your recipes into a real business — one subscription, not separate purchases.
Production tools
Scale your recipe for a batch
★ PREMIUMAutomatically calculate total wax, fragrance, dye and cost to make several candles at once.
My saved recipes
★ PREMIUMSign in to save your first recipe for free and find it again next time. Unlimited with Premium.
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Container library
★ PREMIUMSign in to save your first container for free, with a photo. Unlimited with Premium.
No saved containers yet.
PDF recipe / label
★ PREMIUMGenerate a print-ready PDF with the full recipe or product label.
Business tools
Invoice generator
★ PREMIUMCreate professional PDF invoices with your saved business details and automatic numbering.
Inventory management
★ PREMIUMTrack wax, fragrance, dye and wicks with an alert when stock drops below the minimum threshold.
No items in stock yet.
Quality & community
Cure tracker
ⓘ"Curing" is the resting period after pouring during which wax and fragrance fully stabilize, improving scent throw. It varies by wax type (e.g. soy ~14 days, paraffin ~1 day). ★ PREMIUMTrack the cure time of every batch and get notified when your candles are ready to test or sell.
No batches curing yet.
Community recipes
★ PREMIUMDiscover recipes shared by other Premium users, use them with one click, and publish yours for the community to find.
Save a recipe above ↑ first to be able to publish it.
No recipes published yet. Be the first!
Fragrance compliance (IFRA/CLP)
ⓘThere's no universal "safe %": IFRA limits are per individual fragrance, set by your supplier. Here you save each fragrance's limit and check your recipes against it. ★ PREMIUMSave the maximum IFRA usage rate of every fragrance you use (from the supplier's certificate) and automatically check whether the current recipe respects it.
No fragrances saved yet.
This check is based on the data you enter, taken from the supplier's IFRA certificate. It doesn't replace legal or supplier advice.
How Wick Sizing Works in Faluma's Calculator
Faluma's Wax Calculator takes the diameter you enter for your container and looks up a recommended code across four wick families — CD, ECO, HTP and wood wicks — from a reference table, the same one below. The lookup runs on diameter alone: wax type, fragrance load and dye don't change which code is shown. They still affect how the candle actually burns, which is why every recommendation — here and in the calculator — comes with the same instruction: treat it as a starting point, and confirm it with a test burn.
Candle Wick Size Chart by Container Diameter
These are the reference ranges used in Faluma's calculator for the four wick families it supports:
CD wicks
- Up to 5.1 cm — CD-6
- Up to 6.4 cm — CD-8
- Up to 7.6 cm — CD-10
- Up to 8.9 cm — CD-12
- Up to 10.2 cm — CD-14
- Up to 11.4 cm — CD-16
- Up to 12.7 cm — CD-18
ECO wicks
- Up to 6.4 cm — ECO-1
- Up to 7.6 cm — ECO-2
- Up to 8.9 cm — ECO-4
- Up to 10.2 cm — ECO-6
- Up to 11.4 cm — ECO-8
- Up to 12.7 cm — ECO-10
- Up to 14.0 cm — ECO-12
- Up to 15.2 cm — ECO-14
HTP wicks
- Up to 5.1 cm — HTP 1212
- Up to 6.4 cm — HTP 1312
- Up to 7.6 cm — HTP 1412
- Up to 8.9 cm — HTP 1512
- Up to 10.2 cm — HTP 1612
Wood wicks
- Up to 6.0 cm — S
- Up to 9.0 cm — M
- Up to 12.0 cm — L
When the diameter exceeds the largest single-wick range in Faluma's reference table, the calculator can recommend a double-wick setup rather than a single oversized wick.
What the Chart Doesn't Decide — and Why the Burn Test Still Matters
The chart gives you a starting point. The burn test validates it.
Wax type, fragrance load, dye and pour temperature don't move you to a different row on the table above — Faluma's lookup doesn't factor them in. But they can still change how that same code performs once it's actually burning: a different wax burns at a different rate, a higher fragrance load can change how cleanly it burns, and pour temperature affects how well the wax sets around the wick. That gap between "the chart says this code" and "this code performs well in your specific candle" is exactly what a burn test is for.
To run one: pick the charted wick, burn the candle for a few hours, and watch for the same signs Faluma's own safety guidance points to — excessive smoke, a flame that's burning too high, or the container overheating. Any of those is a signal to size up or down one step on the chart, not to abandon it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Faluma calculate my wick size automatically?
Yes — the Wax Calculator takes your container's diameter and returns a recommended code across CD, ECO, HTP and wood wick families in the same result as your wax, fragrance and cost figures, so you don't have to look it up separately.
What's the difference between CD, ECO, HTP and wood wicks?
They're separate manufacturing families rather than different sizes of the same thing — each is built differently (braid type, core material, or a flat wood strip) and burns a little differently even at a similar rated diameter. Manufacturer charts are family-specific for that reason, which is why this guide lists all four side by side instead of picking one.
When do I need a double wick?
When the diameter exceeds the largest size listed for a wick family, Faluma's calculator switches its recommendation from a single wick to two wicks.
My candle already shows a problem — tunneling, soot, a mushrooming wick. What do I do?
That's a different question from choosing a wick before you pour. Use Candle Doctor on this page for a guided, symptom-by-symptom diagnosis with what to check and what to try next.
Related Tools
Estimates are indicative. Always test-burn before selling and check the wick is safe for your wax and container.
Save it, scale it into a batch, and turn it into a real product line with Faluma Premium.