Your quick guide to naming candle types and styles
Candles come in virtually every shape and size imaginable. The following terms are used to describe common candle styles.
Taper
A slender candle – typically 6 to 18 inches high and sometimes called a dinner candle – designed to be held securely upright by a candle holder.
Pillar
A freestanding candle, usually having a diameter of three inches or more, and one or more wicks. Despite the name, pillars or column candles can be round, square, hexagonal, etc. Although they stand on their own, they must be burned on a heat-resistant candleholder.
A candle that is poured when manufactured into a glass, metal or ceramic container specifically designed to hold the wax and withstand the heat of the burning candle.
Votive
A small cylindrical candle, usually about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 2 or 2 1/2 inches high, designed to be placed in a “cup” or votive holder to hold the liquefied wax that results from burning. Votives were originally produced as white unscented candles for religious ceremonies; they are now available in many colors and scents.
Gel candle
A transparent-type candle made primarily from gelled mineral oils or gelled synthetic hydrocarbons. “Soft” or quasi-rigid gels are poured into a container to maintain the candle’s shape. “Hard” gel candles have a consistency suitable for free-standing candles. Decorative wax items are frequently suspended within a gel candle to produce a special visual effect.
Tealight
A small, cylindrical, filled candle-usually about 1 inch in diameter and 1 1/2 inches high-often poured into a metal holder.
Luminaria
An outdoor candle made by placing a 15-hour votive in a light-diffusing container-filled with sand.
Specialty Candle
An unusually shaped or sculpted freestanding candle, often depicting a three-dimensional object or designed to be viewed primarily as decorative artwork, and sometimes called a novelty candle.
Source
National Candle Association
www.candles.org