Candles Candles, Big and Small

You may have noticed the newest addition to our website but if you haven’t...WE HAVE CANDLES! A perfect present or treat for your own home, they smell amazing and are hand poured by our resident candle maker Tom.  

To learn more about what went into making our three glorious scents Imagination, Triumph, and Sentiment, we got Tom under the interrogation lamp and asked him some questions! 

 

 

Why did you choose the kind of wax we use and the essential oils? 

We choose to use coconut and rapeseed wax because we wanted to use a natural wax as opposed to paraffin wax, which is what you’ll find in most high street candles (derived from petroleum) and soy or palm wax, which although are plant-based products, come with complications surrounding monoculture and the destruction of ecosystems where it is grown around the world, particularly in South America. 

Our wax is made completely of coconut oil and rapeseed oil, there is no paraffin, soy, palm, beeswax (making our candles vegan!) or synthetic additives. 

The same can be said for why we’ve chosen to use natural essential oils. Most scents in candles now are created synthetically, often using harmful chemicals, which really didn’t sit right with us.  We hated the idea of not knowing exactly what went into our candles, which is why all of the oils we use are plant based too. 

 

How did you decide on the scents? 

There was no real short cut with the scents – it was a real case of trial and error! Everybody has their own sense of what smells good, and what doesn’t, so we would test each new scent with the whole team before deciding on anything! It’s so interesting how personal everybody’s sense of smell is, which is why our collection of three; sentiment, triumph and imagination really do use a range of ingredients – there is something there for everybody! 

Did you run into any issues while making them? 

The main issue to overcome is getting the wick the right size for the container. This isn't quite as easy as it sounds as the container size, wax, type of essential oil and the percentage oil scent to wax all affect the wick size. The easy way round is to just massively oversize the wick, however this can lead to issues in itself, chief among which are that it significantly reduces the burn time of the candle. We want people to be able to enjoy the candle for as long as possible so this means getting the wick just right. Again, there wasn't really a shortcut for doing this it was just a case of trial and error, quite a bit of trial and a lot of error actually. 

  

 

Do you have any fun stories from making the candles?  

I'm not sure there are any particularly fun stories but I've had my share wax spillages and every now and then a wick will run off to the edge of the jar when you're filling it with wax. Fun fact though, thanks to the natural wax that we use having such a low melting point it means that not only does it take less energy to melt and therefore make each candle but when you (accidentally) slip and pour it all over your hand it doesn't scald you, you just get a very warm very waxy hand. 

What is your favourite candle? 

For me personally my favourite is Sentiment, I am a sucker for anything fresh and zesty in the air, again for my own home I don't like anything too heavy or musty so I find the freshness of sentiment really fills the air and lifts the room (usually a few rooms actually). 

 

 

Is there anything you’re working on that people should look out for?  

Well, I’m not sure how much I'm allowed to give away here but I am very fond of wax melts, and I’m not going to lie, not having to go through the wicking process is also a bonus! 

 

So there you have it! We hope you enjoyed learning more about our candles and that you will enjoy using them just as much.  

 - Rachel