If you've read the Clare Makes candle care guide, you'll know that to get the most out of your candle, you have to ensure it reaches a full melt pool at each burn. A melt pool is when the wax melts all the way to the edge of the glass. Sometimes of course, intention doesn't always meet with practicality, and you have to extinguish your candle before you get a full melt.
If this happens often enough, what you'll get is a hardened ring of wax called tunnelling, like the image below. Luckily, tunnelling is easily fixed.
I had a customer contact me recently with the above photo to ask how they could fix their tunnelled candle so I passed on my tried and true fix.
Here's how you fix a tunnelling candle:
- Ensure your candle is on a stable surface - a windowsill is not ideal, for example.
- Extinguish the flame.
- Get some tin foil and wrap it around the outside of the candle like this:
- Then light your candle.
If you leave the candle to sit with the tin foil around it for a few minutes, and check it regularly, it should eventually look like this:
Success! You've now fixed your tunnelled candle.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you've tried it.