Learning Something New

Spent 2019 talking about learning to make my own candles. It took a pandemic to kick that desire into high gear. After watching a ton of videos and reading a bunch of tutorials I pulled the trigger and ordered supplies. The important thing when ordering wax was the cold and hot throw reviews. One of the things I love about the candles I buy is that both hot and cold throw are strong. It's important to me to have a candle that can fill a large space with scent and that's why I've been a fan of Yankee Candles. But the downside to Yankee is that several scents we love have been cancelled. In 2018 I purchased Bourbon Vanilla candles from YK for our kids' homes. Everyone loved the scent but when I went to order them for Christmas 2019 the scent was gone. That’s when I started doing research.

But I never got around to the actual “doing”. Then COVID-19 took the planet by storm and we went into quarantine. Perfect time to put all the learning to use.

The other day I poured my third batch and with it I added dye to the candles. I also used purchased jars instead of recycling jars I collected. My son picked up a dozen half-pint jelly jars with lids. They worked out perfectly. Between the half-pints and salsa jars I’ve found my perfect sizes.

The dye worked out great too. I used dye blocks from Candle Science in Caribbean Blue. I’m really happy that I decided to start making my own candles. It’s a money saver and I get to experiment with fragrance oils to create scents we love.

Of course as soon as I started making candles people said, “Oh you should sell them!” That’s never going to happen. This is a hobby that’s going to remain a hobby.