As a child, when I was maybe 8 years old I spent hours watching the dancing flames on candles and playing with the hot wax on my fingers.
I would also wrap the candle in my handkerchief and it looked amazing when the bright flame light up the patterned handkerchief. Unfortunately it didn’t last long, as the candle was ordinary and very oily and burned fast so I had to move the handkerchief lower and lower, for safety reasons, and I was sad because it didn’t look nice any more.
In 2015 all my memories with candles came back when I saw the article ‘candles from the whole world’.
I just felt like I had to try, it called me so intensively!
I thought about making candles days and nights.
I must’ve read thousands of articles and watched dozens of video tutorials. After a while, I bought my first 1kg of paraffin wax.
My first mould was a cup (if you plan to make a free standing candle, I don’t recommend it) and ready-made wick.
I had no idea what I should’ve expected, but eventually I did it: my first candle!
I found out that paraffin wax is so unpredictable; the results depended on temperature, the way you pour it, the amount of added stearin and more.
But simultaneously paraffin wax ‘forgives’ a lot of mistakes; if it all goes wrong you can just melt it and try again.
After I had been made redundant, I was unable to find a part-time job, which was essential as I needed more time to look after my 6 year old autistic son, who needed a lot of care. Meanwhile, my friends were my candles and began asking me whether they can purchase them.
So, I thought that maybe I could start selling handmade candles.
I had no money to invest in a business, but I decided to grow in little steps. I used old pans for melting wax and varies vessels that weren’t exactly designed for being a mould. I used whatever I had and could afford.
There were ups and downs, but I never stopped trying.
It consumed me; all my thoughts consisted of how to do this, do that, what kind of tools should I use, how to get the specific effect, and more.
I definitely can say that I have found my inner child these days.
to be continue…