How We got Started
A while back, I was selling my woodworking, tote bags and other items in an artisan’s cooperative store.
A vendor selling hand-poured candles left, and took their candles with them. There was now a void to fill. I thought ‘how hard can this be?’.
I headed for YouTube and found many how-to videos on candle making. It seemed like you needed the right equipment, quality products and an eye for accurate mixing. I used to work in a chemistry lab, so that part was second nature.
Mixing
Testing
Perfecting
Perfect Chemistry
Quickly decided to use soy wax as it is cleaner burning and a renewable resource, versus paraffin wax which is a petroleum product and produces more soot when burned.
I kept the number of candle scents low (about 3 dozen) to concentrate on finding popular ones. Give a shopper too many choices and they may just keep looking. I try to offer some for each season. My daughter is my CSO – Chief Scent Officer- she has a nose for successful scents.
I also kept the container choices at four- an 6-ounce tin, a 4-ounce jelly jar (special order only), an 8-ounce matte black jar and a six-pack of ‘melters’ for use in candle warmers where you don’t want to burn a candle, but want the same great scent.
My candles even smell nice before you light them. Put them in the room and open the lid. The fragrance will fill the room.