Best place to buy cotton wicks for beeswax candles?

I'd like to make some nice, efficient beeswax candles (probably pillars or tapers, as those seem to have the highest burn efficiency and least smoke). Does anyone have a favorite place to buy them, or ideas on what to search for. There's just so many options, and I'm a bit overwhelmed!

Thanks!

Hi, Nicole,

You can use 100% cotton twine instead of wicks.

It is recommended that you soak the twine in a solution of water, salt, and boric acid which strengthens the wick and helps it to burn steadily. The wicks can be made without the solution, though they will burn faster and might cause your candle wax to melt unevenly.

I have not bought any twine recently though and don't remember the ply. Here are some examples of twine products on Amazon:

Amazon Link for Regency-Natural-Cooking-Twine-Cotton

Amazon Link for 12 Ply Cotton Cooking Twine

I primarily buy my candle making supplies from aztec international and from candle wic. They have a variety of cotton wicks for both beeswax and other types of wax. Although I prefer beeswax, most of my customers prefer scented soy wax so I go with that for them Someday I would like to switch to all beeswax and learn to dip tapered candles.

Hey there,
we make candles each winter for gifts and warmth through the winter. Last year we made soy candles and they work best in jars. We learned the wax is too soft for molds,the stand alone soy candles didn't last long and melted messily.

Anyways, back to wicks. We get the a roll of cotton wicks and dip them in the melted wax, almost like starting a dip candle. Dip a couple of times, squeezing out the excess wax and working the wax into the cotton wick. Do this a couple of times, until the wick is coated good.
Set aside and then make candles with molds.

Our favorite candle making store closed. Happy to check out a new company.
Thanks for sharing

Nicole,

The best place I've found locally is Wicks And Wax in Burnaby.

They've been around since 1959 and have a ton of candle making supplies.

And of course you can always go online but I've found the supplies from overseas are questionable.

I ordered "organic" cotton wicks from China and they smelt so bad i couldn't use them to make candles.

Not sure what they were treated with but when lit they had a really bad metallic odour that stunk up my living room in seconds.

Buyer beware.

Good luck

Way back, when we were in the cabin and lighting with kerosene and homemade candles we did a lot of experimenting making wicks with different weights of cotton string and the cotton warp I was using for weaving.  It's been so long we are both a little fuzzy on the memory, but think we remember what worked best was tightly braiding a finer cotton for wicks after trying just plain string of different weights.  

I do remember if the size of wick was too big the candles would smoke and too small the wax would pool up and put out the flame.  We were using scrap wax, no beeswax or soy, just old candles from wherever we could find them.

https://www.kelleybees.com/candle-making-supplies.html

Many of the bee supply companies sell candle making supplies. This is well respected one.

I ordered "organic" cotton wicks from China and they smelt so bad i couldn't use them to make candles.

Not sure what they were treated with but when lit they had a really bad metallic odour that stunk up my living room in seconds.

I’m not sure China knows the meaning of organic (or cares). They use it as a sales word because they know it’s popular. That metallic odor may well come from lead, which used to be common in wicks. It’s illegal now, but again, this is China we’re talking about 🙄. While lead wick can’t be used in this country, who knows what gets imported, either as just wick, or in candles. Some info on the problem- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12398334

Anne Miller wrote:Hi, Nicole,

You can use 100% cotton twine instead of wicks.

It is recommended that you soak the twine in a solution of water, salt, and boric acid which strengthens the wick and helps it to burn steadily. The wicks can be made without the solution, though they will burn faster and might cause your candle wax to melt unevenly.

I have not bought any twine recently though and don't remember the ply. Here are some examples of twine products on Amazon:

Amazon Link for Regency-Natural-Cooking-Twine-Cotton

Amazon Link for 12 Ply Cotton Cooking Twine

When I made candles years ago I usually used a braided cotton wick.  It worked well.
The diameter determines the size of the flame.  Bigger braid, bigger flame.
I tried a metal core wick.  It was woven around a wire with a melting point lower than the flame temperature.  The wire melted as the candle burned leaving a few little beads of metal at the bottom.  I'm not convinced the candles were any better.  The stuff was a little more expensive.  Also, looking at it from my more mature perspective, it was probably a little less eco-friendly.
I tried other materials as wicks too.  Natural fiber is the only way to go.  Synthetics shrink and don't actually "Wick" up the melted wax.  Finer fibers worked better than coarse ones.
Sorry, it was the 70's.  I don't remember where I got the braided cotton.

 This is some good info here. especially seeing how I want to start making my own candles since last february.i have some 1 inch Candles,in which I want to convert into 3 inch and 6 inch candles.anyone  know the best low cost candle making kit and wick's.?

Arts & craft stores would be my first bet, along with the cheaper rolls of cotton twine that is used for tying the legs of your chickens before roasting. To make it stiffer, it is often braided tight. Also you might impregnate the wick with oil, or salt.
I found this thread, which is nice:
http://www.sewhistorically.com/how-to-make-diy-candle-wicks-with-cotton-string/

Try Lehman's:    https://www.lehmans.com/search?q=wicks&w#/filter:categoryhierarchy:Lamps$2520$2526$2520Lighting$252FCandles$2520and$2520Candlemaking/perpage:500

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:Arts & craft stores would be my first bet, along with the cheaper rolls of cotton twine that is used for tying the legs of your chickens before roasting. To make it stiffer, it is often braided tight. Also you might impregnate the wick with oil, or salt.
I found this thread, which is nice:
http://www.sewhistorically.com/how-to-make-diy-candle-wicks-with-cotton-string/

I found this information about the braided wicks very interesting:

https://permies.com/t/133524/permaculture-home-care-cleaning/purity/negative-ions-released-candles-outweigh#1336976