A person once said, “your candles aren’t anything special... it’s just wax in a glass!” Being the professional I am, I just smiled and nodded, but my inner DIVA wanted to unleash a tirade Miranda Priestly style ala Devil Wears Prada. “A glass of wax?! {gasp} What you are so blithely unaware is that glass of wax was developed by the 2 small business owners that stand before you. The sleepless nights of sourcing quality ingredients from domestic suppliers during a global pandemic. 15 years of 14-hour days... Candle after candle hand poured from natural waxes grown by American farmers scented to perfection to evoke a childhood memory that could bring even the coldest of hearts to tears... Sure, you pick up some lumpy paraffin blend candle from a clearance bin at your local grocery store, because you don’t really think there’s a difference, but you’ll reflect on this moment when you’re cleaning the soot off your walls... Just a glass of wax? I don’t think!”
On April 2nd, we celebrate National Handmade Day. We felt this was the perfect opportunity to give a fun behind the curtain look at how the sausage is made... well, in this case, everything that goes into our first signature product, our hand poured soy tumbler candles.
Every new candle really begins with the fragrance. They are chosen from a selection of our domestic suppliers typically on a seasonal basis as new trends appear or when we decide to curate a special collection or thematic event. Once received by us, the fun begins...
If they pass the all-important “out of the bottle” smell test, they’ll get incorporated into test batches for compatibility. Candles get tested for cold throw (the scent when candles aren’t lit), hot throw (the scent when candles are properly burning with a full melt pool of wax), flame height, burn time, durability, and overall experience.
Each fragrance reacts differently when applied to our candle products. Some fragrances will appear weaker when cold than they are when lit. Fragrances may also develop over time as it cures with the natural soy wax. Scents that pass the muster make their way for sale on our website. Fragrances that don’t work well for candles still are given life in other home fragrance applications, or in our bath, body, and beauty care products.
The “chosen ones” for production that appear on our website require their own marketing package. Online sales are a visual media. We need to create the perfect image so a customer can almost smell the product in front of them. This requires a description that really takes you there. Even the simplest of scents can get comprised of dozens of individual fragrance notes. That all important fragrance description is coupled with imagery.
We choose the perfect photo to represent the overall scent. These images are either taken in-house or come from a collective of local and national freelance photographers. Product packaging is sourced, including our union made glassware, bags, boxes, and even the green twist ties that close each candle. Labels are mocked up, safety warnings strictly adhered to by industry standards are added, and everything gets printed. We also handle our own product photography to best accurately depict the final product that will inevitably reach our customers.
Once everything is in place, it’s finally ready for sale... That’s right, we haven’t even gotten around to selling a product before all those steps take place! But after a few more hours of time spent adding files to our website and other sales platforms, a few social media posts, and fingers crossed... {CHA-CHING} New Order Notification.
A customer has picked out their ideal candle... the reasoning each personal to them. We’ve heard some great stories over the years. It’s now our responsibility to make a product equality special for them to experience.
Each jar is wicked by hand, properly sized for the container, factored with the individual fragrance. Our custom blend of soy wax is weighed to the ounce and is slowly melted, ready to be incorporated with the fragrance oil. Fragrances are custom blended at the time of purchase to ensure that only the best candles leave our workshop. The wax and fragrance combo is then colored by eye with natural dyes to best match the overall scent experience. After some additional hand stirring, the wax is poured by hand into the glass. Wicks are straightened and pulled taut to maintain proper burning throughout the life of the candle. They are then allowed to naturally cool before trimming and finishing touches.
Candles are wiped down and labeled by hand, with both the scent label on the front of the jar, and a fragrance label with scent identifying number on the bottom. Each jar is then bagged in eco-friendly wrap to maintain fragrance. They get rolled in our signature tissue paper and gift boxed, before final labeling... then off to the customer!
Then we wait with bated breath for them to ship all over the world, hoping at every stop along the way they aren’t damaged in transit, and that the recipient loves the candle that was made especially for them, as much as we loved crafting it.
So yeah, it’s safe to say our candles are more than just wax in a glass!
With now over 2,000 fragrances to choose from, we hope you’ll find the one you love... Explore our entire Artisan Hand Poured Soy Candle product line.
