contemporarycandles.com

Candles, explained.

A full melt pool in a wide amber jar, liquid wax touching the container wall at every point, shot from slightly above with a single flame reflection visible in the surface

WHAT IS THE WAX TELLING YOU?

Everything on this table is testable at home. Start with How to Read a Melt Pool →

Photo: Vie Studio / Pexels

The Burn Table

Lean in. Examine the evidence.

A just-extinguished candle wick trailing a thin line of smoke against a dark warm background, the wax surface still glossy from the burn

Most candle problems are decided before the match is struck — by the wick, the wax, and the vessel. The burner is the junior partner.

Tunnelling: Whose Fault Is It Really? →
A short length of trimmed wick resting on a pale wax surface beside its candle, close-up with shallow depth of field

A wick is not a fuse; it is a fuel pump. The flame reports on it every minute — tall and smoky, steady, or drowning.

What a Wick Actually Does →
A single amber glass candle jar backlit so the wax is translucent and the wick is a dark vertical line at the centre

The candle that seduced you unlit and bored you burning was answering a different question. Cold throw is a promise; hot throw is the candle.

Cold Throw, Hot Throw, and Why They Differ →

The Sections

Five drawers, twenty-two write-ups

Partners

Kept alight by

Chandlers and suppliers we keep the flame with, named here without ceremony.