It's Been a Hot Minute
It's hard to believe that it's been nearly three weeks since I posted to the blog. So much for creating a routine, but I'm going to forgive myself because the world is a bit of a mess right now. I found myself drowning in a whirlpool of anxiety, remorse and anger. It's taken three weeks to get my sleep schedule back on track. Two weeks of daily briefs from the White House left me gobsmacked. The lack of cohesive response from the current administration left me without a civil word to utter.
So I retreated and allowed myself to heal a bit. Getting my sleep schedule back on track was tough and I had to use OTC sleeping pills for 4 days before I could fall asleep on my own around 11 pm and be up 8 hours later.That was the most important thing to fix because sleep affects everything. I've returned to reading my Bible each day. At the moment I'm using a Bible study plan through the YouVersion app for the book of Samuel and Titus. Charged my Kindle and returned to reading. I need to finish The War Planners by Andrew Watts and then dive into all the other books I've been wanting to read on Kindle Unlimited.
It didn't help that many of the things I ordered for projects took a long time to receive. It's just the way things are right now. Thankfully, the majority of my orders are starting to roll in.
Candle Making
I was positively giddy about my foray into candle making. J says my walk changes when I'm excited about a project. He says I "march" with purpose through the house. At first I was like, "No I don't!" But then I thought about it. He knows me best. He's had 18 years to learn all my subtle and not so subtle quirks. But I digress...
I’ve been talking about making my own candles for about a year and I finally got around to it. Keeping myself busy with projects is especially busy now. The news these days makes me anxious and I’ve found that making candles and sewing masks keeps me calm.
After looking at lots of online candle supply stores I ordered from Candle Science.
25 lbs. IGI 4627 Harmony Blend wax
Coconut, Very Vanilla, Peach Nectar, Jamaica Me Crazy, Cirton and Mandarin fragrance oils.
As of tonight I’ve poured 10 candles. It may not seem like a lot but I’ve learned with each one. All the tops are smooth and adhesion to the glass is really good. That makes me happy because I’m using glass jars I had set aside to paint. It’s an assortment of salsa, pickle and spaghetti sauce jars that I like.
The smallest candles are 16 ounces and the largest I poured is a 24 ounce Mason jar. At this point I think the largest candle in my future will be 16 ounces. My next order will include jars, lids, self-sticking wicks and candle dye. I wasn’t worried about the color of the candles for my first attempts but now I want to get used to adding dye as well as fragrance. Definitely going with straight side jars because I think they’re easier for me since I’m a beginner.
The candles are hanging out on the shelf for several weeks (minimum 2 weeks) to cure before we do our test burns. I’m hoping that the wick recommendation works out for me. Eventually I’d love to use wood wicks because both J and I enjoy the crackle of wood wicked candles.
