The burn test sheet
Updated
A sheet per combination. Copy this structure and keep every one you fill in.
What one sheet covers
One combination of six things: wax, fragrance, load, dye, wick, vessel.
Change any one and it is a new sheet, not an annotation on the old one.
The header
Test number and date.
Wax: product number, supplier, lot.
Fragrance: name, supplier, lot, load as a percentage of the finished candle.
Dye: color, form, percentage.
Wick: series, size, lot.
Vessel: supplier, part number, internal diameter, height.
Process: melt, addition and pour temperatures, cooling method.
Cure: days before testing.
The cycle table
One row per hour, for four-hour cycles, repeated until the candle is gone.
Columns: hours elapsed, melt pool diameter, melt pool depth, flame height, wick condition, vessel wall temperature, vessel base temperature, observations.
Wick condition is worth a controlled vocabulary rather than prose: clean, slight curl, mushroom, carbon ball, split.
And a photograph reference per cycle, taken from directly above and from the side.
The verdict
Pass, fail, or the specific change to try.
Plus the things a number does not capture: did it self-extinguish, did anything fall into the pool, did the glass become uncomfortable to hold, how much wax was left at the end.
Sign and date it. An unsigned undated record is a note; a signed dated one is evidence.