A funny story I thought I’d share. Some that read this blog know the candles at Prairie Soy Candles are made by my mother while I take care of the customer service side of the business. We both burn our own candles though, along with others here and there (most that we’ve received as gifts or had before the business was started).

The other day my mother is burning a candle left over from before we started Prairie Soy Candles. It was a small tin with a very bright red candle inside, and the last candle she owned with dye. I won’t mention the brand of the candle because it really doesn’t matter. It wasn’t a bad candle, but it did have dye.

She’d always been proud of the fact she’d never knocked over a candle (lucky her, I’ve knocked over more than I care to count, even though I COULD count the number of stains and paraffin wax in my carpet). As she’s blowing out her last candle with dye, her hand bumps the tin. Bright red wax spills everywhere - table, walls, and her new-ish carpet. “ARG!” she cries, and proceeds to attempt to scrub red wax out of her carpet. No problem getting out the wax since (luckily) it was a soy wax candle. But the red dye - no such luck.

I found it funny since she’d never done this before, and it just happened to be the very last candle in her house that wasn’t one of ours. :p

Lately we’ve been asked how long our burn times are on our candles. While I can usually give an estimate based on customer contents and the candles I’ve burned, we’ve never really kept a log of exact times. So I decided to do just that.

I’m no where near done with our “tests”, but I have started on 2 candles. Neither are finished burning yet, but here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

Amish Friendship Bread Votive (4oz)
Our votives do not stand alone, but come already inside of a holder. This makes a huge difference in the burn time I believe, because this votive has lasted longer than any normal votive I’ve ever seen. So far, I’ve lit this little votive 7 times and it’s been burning a total of 16 hours with about 1/3 of the candle left. Will it go for a full 20 hours? I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.

I did some research on other burn times for major companies, and I’ve get to see any that compare. Party Lite states on their website that votives last 8-10 hrs. Really no competition there, since those are paraffin wax candles and not soy. Mia Bella states their votives last 10-15hrs. Pretty close to ours, but still not quite as long. Mia Bella has a vegetable blend that contains little soy. Bittersweet on the other hand, which is a soy blend, states their votives last 15-18 hours. That’s more like it! I do believe their’s are the closest blend to real soy, but again I think it’s a blend. Not pure soy, so it’s not going to last as long.

Do different scents burn longer? I’m going to assume yes, and have seen some sites mention this. It’s something I will be looking at while doing my tests and is why I noted the scent in this votive.

8oz Jelly Jar - Best Friends scent
I can’t even begin to quote times on this one, since I’ve only burned it once. It barely looks like it’s been burned at all, but I burned it for 5 1/2 hrs. I’m curious to see how long it lasts compared to other brands!

More tests to come, including scent throw times on melts and burn times on other sizes. This is actually fun to do, especially since I get to burn candles!

Hello and welcome to our new blog! I’ll be posting updates, news in the soy industry, and helpful hints on choosing candles for your home. If you are a candle lover, you’ve found the right spot! I hope you enjoy this blog, and please feel free to post your questions or comments.

If you are looking for candles, please feel free to visit our website, Prairie Soy Candles, at:
www.PrairieSoyCandles.com