Shrink bands and seals
Updated
A shrink band over the lid seam: cheap, quick, and it changes how the product reads.
What a band is doing
Holding scent in, which is the real functional job. A lid alone is a poor seal and a candle loses top notes on a shop shelf over weeks.
Showing the candle has not been opened, which matters at a market where every unit is picked up and sniffed.
And finishing the look, which is most of why people use them.
Sizing
Bands are specified by lay-flat width and length, against the diameter of the vessel plus the lid.
Too wide and it shrinks unevenly into a wrinkled collar; too narrow and it will not go on. Order a sample before a case.
Perforated is worth the small extra so a customer can open it without a knife.
Applying
A heat gun on low, turning the candle, from a distance.
Keep the heat off the glass and away from the wax. Too close and you soften the surface of the candle under the lid, which is a mark the customer finds when they open it.
Do it after the candle is fully cured, cool and labeled.
Whether you need one
Not required. Useful at market, expected by some wholesale buyers, and the cheapest way to make a hand-poured candle look like a produced one.
The alternative that does the same jobs better is a carton, which gives tamper evidence, a printable surface and protection in transit, at a higher cost and a much larger minimum order.