How Our Candles Are Made
We have officially started making candles for the 2023 holiday sale. But how do we do it? If you’ve ever been curious to know how it all comes together, let’s demystify the process!
Wax
We use Golden Brands 464. It’s a soy wax blend that burns clean and presents great fragrance throw. We order 50lbs boxes of wax flakes from The Candlemaker Store, who conveniently provides customer pickup at their location North of Cincinnati.
Fragrance
The Candlemaker Store has a nice selection of fragrance blends, and they source the fragrances we use for Spiced Cinnamon and Vanilla Peppermint candles. Cranberry Woods, Frosted Juniper, White Tea, Lavender and others are sourced by CandleScience.
Wax is melted with our specialty melter, then poured into an 8-cup pyrex bowl before adding fragrance oil. For best emulsification, we add and gently stir the fragrance oil when the wax cools to 185 degrees F.
Container
Every holiday season, we browse the internet for the perfect jar/lid combo. Straight or decorative glass? Ceramic or tin? Tall, wide, big or small? Smooth plastic or bamboo lid? Glossy or matte lid finish? The options are endless… our final product is usually a mathematical blend of container size, product matching availability and cost. Burch Bottle, Container And Packaging and CandleScience have been our go-to partners for finding the best matching containers and lids.
Different sized containers also require different sized wicks. Thicker wicks (sometimes more than one) are used for wider containers. We also use wick stickers and setters to keep wicks stationary during pouring.
Hand-pouring
Fragrance oil and wax are mixed at 185 degrees F, then allowed to cool. Once cooled to 135 degrees F, the fragranced wax is slowly hand-poured into pre-wicked containers. Filled containers are then left to cure.
Sometimes when soy wax hardens, the finish appears frosted or lumpy. This can be caused by inexact mix or pour temperatures (or sometimes specific fragrances blends), but is easily corrected by gently smoothing the finish with a hair dryer.
Labeling
Labeling is reimagined for every new container/lid combination. Our brand is simple, which is reflected in the simplicity of our labeling. We want our products to look good wherever they are on display.
Our labels are always custom designed (even the warning label on the bottom). For printing, we’ve used Sticker Mule, Sticker You, and Speedpro.
Once labeled, the candles are ready for purchase!
We are currently cooking! Look for candles in the shop close to Thanksgiving.