My current method: Buy a can of potted meat. Do not open it. Use a utility knife to score around the circular indentation in the bottom of the can. Pop out this indented part when it finally surrenders. Scoop out the can's contents. Wash the can thoroughly and maybe dull the sharp edge where the indented part was removed. (SHARP!) Get a bit of fiberglass insulation and stuff it into the can as a wick. Done.
The stove is now usable and with the wick it will light easily even in low temperatures, and the flame will be more regulated.
What you finish with is too light to register on the scale at the post office. Can't beat that.
Fuel: Buy denatured alcohol anywhere paint is sold. (And if you are stealthy, and at a place like Home Depot, you can also get a small "sample" of fiberglass insulation to use as your wick there while you're at it. You need only a tiny bit.) Carry the fuel in a 16 oz/500 ml bladder like Platypus sells. To reseal the "bottle", squeeze out the excess air and make sure that the cap is on tight. Alcohol vapor will escape from a bottle with a push/pull dispenser cap and leave you short, especially if carried in a rigid, fixed-volume bottle. (Talking from experience.) And the little bladders weigh essentially nothing and take up no space when empty.
Measure fuel by using the cap from the bottle that carries the fuel. A cap full is about 1/4 ounce or 7.39 ml. After a while you get really good at measuring out exactly how much you need.
My free book which may or may not be a little fun: "Fire in Your Hand: Dave's Little Guide to Ultralight Backpacking Stoves" at https://fireinyourhand.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
The book needs some updating and much better illustrations, etc., etc. but I've quit backpacking now anyway. I live outside the US these days, and though I've been back a couple of times just to go backpacking, it hasn't worked well. Too hot, too wet, too dry, too expensive, disintegration of national and state parks, too much incipient violence. I've gotten death threats just for being on a public trail that someone else regarded as their own. And so on.
Be well if possible anymore.