Candles are a pleasant accessory for your home, but they need to be taken seriously. Always use common sense, and remember you are playing with fire!
Never leave a burning CANDLE UNATTENDED! Stay in the same room with it! Never leave a candle burning while you sleep! This is a huge cause of house fires!!!!
Keep candles out of the reach of children and pets !!!!! Many candles smell so good, and some of them evern look like a food product, so make sure kids don't mistake them!!
Watch for wagging tails near a flame.
Trim wicks prior to each use and keep trimmed to 1/4" to prevent smoke and soot damage to your home.
DO NOT BURN CANDLE WITHOUT AMPLE OVERHEAD CLEARANCE, too close to a wall, near combustible materials, near dry greenery, draperies, sheers, lampshades, garments, or in an enclosed area.
KEEP BURNING CANDLES OUT OF DIRECT DRAFTS, This includes air and heat vents, open doors and windows, and people traffic. A draft may cause the wick or flame to draw too near to the sides and may fracture the glass.
PLACE TRIVET OR PROTECTIVE COVERING underneath
holder to protect furniture. Avoid burning candles completely to the bottom, Extinguish and discard the candle while at least 1/2" of wax remains.
INSPECT YOUR CANDLE CONTAINER BEFORE EACH USE. If you find a chip or crack, discard it. If a match is accidentally dropped into a candle, extinguish the candle and when it ts cool, remove the match. If this is not done, the flame could burn away from the center creating a hazard.
GEL CANDLE WICK MAINTENANCE, when blowing out wick, take a minute to trim away loose or fallen wick particles using a toothpick or other object to collect pieces from "liqidized" gel before it re-gels for next burning. This will keep the top gel looking nice and clean.
BURN GEL CANDLES for 2 hours, then when the candle is cool, trim the wick to 1/4" before relighting. A longer wick is prone to dark smoking, especially with more fragrant candles. Also, a longer wick is more apt to burn off center creating a hot spot on the side of the container that could cause it to fracture.
Do not move a gel candle container while the gel is still hot and liquid. Keep candle on a LEVEL surface.
Always put your candles on a heat resistant surface even if the candle is in some sort of jar.
The difference between a vegetable wax and a paraffin (petroleum-based wax):There have been several misconceptions floating around (especially on the internet) regarding paraffin waxes vs. vegetable-based waxes. Many proponents of vegetable waxes are making extravagant claims about their superiority to paraffin. It is important to realize that both are safe, viable “natural” raw materials with differing chemical compositions thus offering many varied benefits depending on end user applications. Both paraffin and vegetable waxes occur naturally.
Vegetable crude oils are extracted from plant matter. These vegetable crude oils are further refined and subsequently hydrogenated to form a partially or fully hydrogenated vegetable oil thereby increasing the wax content of the refined vegetable oil. Hydrogenation is a process where hydrogen is reacted with the vegetable oil in the presence of a catalyst. Hydrogenation raises the melt point of vegetable oils, and hardens them, making them suitable for use in candles (this is also how margarines and shortenings are made from vegetable oils). Some of the compounds formed during the hydrogenation process do not occur naturally.
• Paraffin waxes occur naturally as components of crude mineral oil. Paraffin waxes are produced by refining or separating the waxes out of the crude mineral oils.
As vegetable wax proponents seek to establish market share, there is a misconception that it must be done at the expense of paraffin waxes. Various manufacturers who utilize vegetable wax materials, have launched aggressive marketing campaigns designed to “disqualify” and “discredit” petroleum wax. Unfortunately, their negative publicity campaign has resulted in numerous misconceptions and generally unsupported scientific claims being promoted. It is important to clarify that both paraffin and vegetable-based waxes have been found to be biodegradable, safe, and effective when used in well-designed product systems. Information was found at http://www.igiwax.com
Is Soy Better: The truth is, depending on the candle maker and the candle "user" there is not one wax that is better than the other. Some of you have heard that soy is all natural, but, soy itself is natural, but when you add a wick and scent (fragrance oil), it is no longer natural. But is all natural always better? Not necessarily -There is a lot of all natural things on this planet that will kill you just as easily as some man made products - often with a lot more suffering. Even worse, many all natural items are pretty harmless in one form but deadly in another. A good example is poison ivy - a skin irritant for most folks, but inhaling fumes from burning poison ivy is often fatal. Poppies is another example- a popular condiment for baked goods, but make heroin from them and they can be deadly. Many people forget that paraffin is also a by-product of a natural resource, neither one of the waxes is man-made. One comes from deep under-ground (paraffin), and the other is grown (soy). Aside from helping our farmers, both come from a natural resource, both create carbon-monoxide when burned (can't see or smell it) so the claim on soy being the only clean burning candle is false. Some of you may have heard that soy are sootless candles, but, if you don't keep the wick trimmed it can cause soot. Has anyone ever tipped their soy candles just enough for the flame to touch the glass for say a minute or two to see if any soot does appear? AS SOON AS YOU LIGHT A FLAME, THERE IS SOOT! Keep in mind that soy wax is subject to some processing because the beans have to be rendered into wax. Common sense is that paraffin candles have been being burned for decades and someone would have heard about it by now on a large scale if there were any serious problems. Technically, nothing we burn is probably "good" for us to breathe. And yes, if you add synthetic dyes and fragrances to soy wax it is no longer "all natural". Let's face it... most of the products we use today are likely bad for us to some degree, such as household cleaners, hair spray, air fresheners, etc. How it affects each person would depend on the level of use or exposure, period of time the products are used for, and the sensitivity of the person. Some people can use scented products for a lifetime and never experience any problems from it, while another person may only use a scented product for a few months and find they develop asthmatic symptoms and must stop using it. Everyone is different, and there's no way to predict how each will react. It all ends up being a matter of opinion. You can find articles or statements from "experts" or companies to support both sides... in the end it's up to you to decide what you believe.
General Properties of Paraffin Wax: Paraffin Wax is a natural product derived from the molecular components of decayed vegetable and animal material. Paraffin wax consists of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons with the following general properties.
• Non-reactive
• Non-toxic
• Good water barrier
• Clean-burning fuel
• Colorless
Paraffin waxes are characterized by a clearly defined crystal structure and have the tendency to be hard and brittle. The melt point of paraffin waxes generally falls between 120° and 160°F. Information was found at http://www.igiwax.com
Petroleum Wax Overview: Petroleum wax is ultimately derived from crude oil. Obtained from the ground, crude oil is a compositionally varied product, consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons. Another name for crude oil is fossil fuel. Crude oil is transported to refineries where it is refined into finished products by complex processes. One of the many products derived from refining is lubricating oil. It is from the lube oil refining process that petroleum waxes are derived. There are three general categories of petroleum wax that are obtained from lube oil refining. They include paraffin, microcrystalline and petrolatum. Paraffin waxes are derived from the light lubricating oil distillates. Paraffin waxes contain predominantly straight-chain hydrocarbons with an average chain length of 20 to 30 carbon atoms. Information was found at http://www.igiwax.com
Paraffin Candles and Toxins: These are just wild claims and scare tactics to get people to buy a different product. How long have candles been around anyway? This used to be the way people lit their homes years ago, along with other kerosene and oils to burn. Paraffin wax is a natural product derived from the molecular components of decayed vegetable and animal material. It is non-reactive, non-toxic, a clean-burning fuel, and colorless. As vegetable wax proponents seek to establish market share, there is a misconception that it must be done at the expense of paraffin waxes. Various manufacturers who utilize vegetable wax materials, have launched aggressive marketing campaigns designed to “disqualify” and “discredit” petroleum wax. Unfortunately, their negative publicity campaign has resulted in numerous misconceptions and generally unsupported scientific claims being promoted. It is important to clarify that both paraffin and vegetable-based waxes have been found to be biodegradable, safe and effective when used in well-designed product systems. Paraffin is also used in food applications and in food packaging which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Even crayons are made with paraffin wax. Promoting soy as a healthy alternative to paraffin is not only a lie, it's a violation of Federal truth-in-advertising laws.
Zinc Core Wicks and Lead: There are some very important guidelines that need to be followed in order to safely use these products. As a consumer, you need to educate yourself on the products you are using, and make sure you are using them properly.
Bad Press: You may have seen some reports on your local T. V. news channel, local newspaper, or even on the internet recently making generalized claims that candles are unsafe Not true! The truth is, you have not been given all the facts. Here are a few common misconceptions about candles:
Claim: "All candle wicks with a wire in the middle contain lead"
Truth: Wrong! Lead core wicks were discontinued and have not been manufactured in the United States for several years. The wire cores used today are most commonly made of Zinc, and some are tin, both of which are safe to burn and only contain trace elements of lead impurities. Zinc has a maximum Lead content is 0.004%. Note: Any nonferrous metal will have similar trace elements of Lead.
Claim: "Any candle with metal in the wick is unsafe to burn"
Truth: Not true! Research shows that zinc and tin wicks are safe and pass the EPA's air quality tests. A person would have to burn over 3,000 candles with zinc wicks for four hours a day to exceed the EPA's air quality standard for lead.
Claim: "Candles with lead wicks have recently been found on store shelves"
Truth: Sad but true. Some imported candles that contain lead wicks manufactured in other countries are still being allowed into the U.S. and are being sold in our American stores. We support a full ban on any import candle products that contain lead, and we urge consumers to avoid any stores that carry these products. You as a consumer can help by letting store owners know how you feel about these low quality imports, and encourage them to carry only quality U.S. made candle products.
Visions In Wax uses paraffin wax and LX Series German Coreless wicks, they are flat braided cotton wicks, chemically treated with a high melt point wax (212F). These wicks are designed reduce "mushrooming" (build up of carbon at the tip of the wick), reduce smoke and soot, and when used properly these wicks are virtually self-trimming.
