Announcing 3 new additions to our product line!

Check out these great new melters we now have!! Feels like spring in the air!

"White Luster"

"Orchid Bloom"

"In Bloom"

You can check out these and more products we have to offer by clicking {here} to visit my online candle shop!

~ Mary

Where did Candles come from?

Candles have cast a light on man's progress for centuries. However, there is very little known about the origin of candles. Although it is often written that the first candles were developed by the Ancient Egyptians who used rushlights, or torches, made by soaking the pithy core of reeds in molten tallow, the rushlights had no wick like a candle. It is the Romans who are credited with developing the wick candle, using it to aid travelers at dark, and lighting homes and places of worship at night.

Like the early Egyptians, the Roman's relied on tallow, gathered from cattle or sheep suet, as the principal ingredient of candles. It was not until the Middle Ages when beeswax, a substance secreted by honey bees to make their honeycombs, was introduced. Beeswax candles were a marked improvement over those made with tallow, for they did not produce a smoky flame, or emit an acrid odor when burned. Instead, beeswax candles burned pure and clean. However, they were expensive, and, therefore, only the wealthy could afford them.

Colonial women offered America's first contribution to candlemaking when they discovered that boiling the grayish green berries of bayberry bushes produced a sweet-smelling wax that burned clean. However, extracting the wax from the bayberries was extremely tedious. As a result, the popularity of bayberry candles soon diminished.

The growth of the whaling industry in the late 18th century brought the first major change in candlemaking since the Middle Ages, when spermaceti, a wax obtained by crystallizing sperm whale oil, became available in quantity. Like beeswax, the spermaceti wax did not elicit a repugnant odor when burned. Furthermore, spermaceti wax was found harder than both tallow and beeswax. It did not soften or bend in the summer heat. Historians note that the first "standard candles" were made from spermaceti wax.

It was during the 19th century when most major developments affecting contemporary candlemaking occurred. In 1834, inventor Joseph Morgan introduced a machine which allowed continuous production of molded candles by the use of a cylinder which featured a movable piston that ejected candles as they solidified.

Further developments in candlemaking occurred in 1850 with the production of paraffin wax made from oil and coal shales. Processed by distilling the residues left after crude petroleum was refined, the bluish-white wax was found to burn cleanly, and with no unpleasant odor. Of greatest significance was its cost - paraffin wax was more economical to produce than any preceding candle fuel developed. And while paraffin's low melting point may have posed a threat to its popularity, the discovery of stearic acid solved this problem. Hard and durable, stearic acid was being produced in quantity by the end of the 19th century. By this period, most candles being manufactured consisted of paraffin and stearic acid.

With the introduction of the light bulb in 1879, candlemaking declined until the turn of the century when a renewed popularity for candles emerged.

Candle manufacturing was further enhanced during the first half of the 20th century through the growth of U.S. oil and meatpacking industries. With the increase of crude oil and meat production, also came an increase in the by-products that are the basic ingredients of contemporary candles paraffin and stearic acid.

No longer man's major source of light, candles continue to grow in popularity and use. Today, candles symbolize celebration, mark romance, define ceremony, and accent decor — continuing to cast a warm glow for all to enjoy!

Click here to learn more on the History of Making Candles!

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Thank you for allowing me to share with you the history of candles. I hope has Satisfied Your Senses!

~ Mary

Do you know how to burn correctly?

Although burning a candle doesn't seem like a big deal, it can be!

It is believed that all you have to do is just get a candle, light it and its all good. Nope, no, not, nada, wrong! Okay that may have been a bit strong, but all in all it is true. There is a bit more to it than just lighting it and moving on.

When you purchased that candle sitting in your living room, dining room, bedroom, etc. you may have thought, wow that smells great or its appearance would fit your decor perfectly with that room. You got it, put it in place, lit it and walked away. Later you blew it out. From there most would say well next time i will just light it and it will be as great as it was before. Wrong! Now you have potential of having it smoke and sooting up the jar/container, pieces of burn wick getting in the wax that can catch fire. Your candle can also start creating a sink hole, cutting the life of your candle in half. A number of things can happen when burning a candle and not knowing the proper way to do so. Here are a few tips to help extend the life of your candle as well as some safety tips as well.

• Before lighting your candle make sure the wick is trimmed to 1/4 in". Any longer and the flame gets too high, can cause smoking (soot) and can cause the liquid pool to get to hot and cause a flash fire. All scent oils used in candles have a flash point and keeping the wick trimmed can keep from this happening. Trimming it any shorter than 1/4 in" can cause the melted wax to "snuff" out the candle repeatedly, causing a very poor burning candle. Causing you to have to remove melted wax that can burn you , if not done properly as well as cause you to "throw away" needlessly.
• Make sure that you have a flat, heat safe, level place to put your candle. This is important to allow your candle to burn evenly. Un-level, non-heat safe areas are an accident waiting to happen.
• Avoid Drafts! It is very unwise to place a lit candle near a window, under a ceiling fan, in front of a heating and air vent. Drafts cause the flame to flicker, which in turn causes the candle to burn unevenly, cause the candle to smoke and if near any flammable items such as curtains, it can cause the item to catch fire.
• Always keep lit candles out of reach of Children and Animals!
• Never leave a lit candle unattended!
• When extinguishing the flame it is recommended that you use a wick dipper. By dipping the wick down into the liquid wax, it will put the flame out safely and there will be no smoke! So you don't have that burn smell that usually always follows blowing a candle out. If you don't have a wick dipper readily available, you can blow out the candle by placing an index finger in front of the flame and blowing gently. This causes the air to surround the flame and minimizes the splattering of hot wax from the liquid wax pool.
• Burn candle for the proper length of time. For Jar Candles you want to burn the candle 1 hour for every 1 inch in diameter. So if you have a 3" in diameter candle you will want to burn it for at the least 3 hours to allow the candle to reach its maximum melt pool. This will allow your candle to burn down evenly and get the most out of your candle. if you burn for too short of a time, you will see that this causes your candle to form a "sink hole".
• Know when to "blow out" the flame. You know it is time to put the candle out when the melt pool has reached 1/2 in deep. IF you allow the melt pool to go any deeper than 1/2 inch deep, this can cause it to super heat the wax and can cause a flash fire from the scent oils reaching their "flash point" Stay on the safe side and snuff it at no more than 1/2 in deep.
• Keep your candle wax clear of "junk" referring to burnt pieces of wick or anything else that may have fallen into the wax. Doing so may prevent a flash fire once the wax has heated to a liquid pool.
• Allow candle to cool to a hardened wax before relighting again.

I hope these tips have been helpful to you. By following these tips you will extend the life of your candle and in a safe manner, while getting the maximum burn time your candle may have. Take care when burning any candles!

Safely Satisfy Your Senses Today!

~ Mary

These tips are those that I strongly suggest to all my customers. If you have other tips on candle burning that you would like to share please feel free to leave them in the comments. Have a great day!

Spring Has Sprung.............

The last few days have really brought on the Spring feeling here at home!

Today has been a GLORIOUS day! The sun is shining, a nice gentle breeze flowing, and I hear the birds chirping!

I got up this morning, and as I was drinking my coffee, I contemplated what I was going to do with my day. On days like this, there are so many things I want to do, as I am sure this is true with many others. I decided that I was going to use the wonderful gift of "energy" the day had brought, to really get some things done around the house, that I just kept putting off. The first thing I did was open all the windows, this house needed some major airing out after being shut up for so long.

By noon I had gotten so much more done than I would ever normally do. For a scant moment I thought of sitting down to take a break and just relax. STOP!!! NO! I caught myself right on the brink of that! I wasn't about to waste even a drop of the energy I was getting from this beautiful early spring day! So, I plugged in a bit more elbow grease and got to work.

There is a sense of pride in accomplishing even the small things. I felt a bit more rejuvenated after completing the handful of things I had on todays "To Do" list. I have a bit more motivation to keep the "energy" flowing and do the extra things not on that list. Its a wonderful feeling that Spring brings to us. Its like we come out of hibernation and Spring has pushed the dull winter leftovers out of the way and brought in the fresh, clean, and wonderful things, for our enjoyment, that only mother nature can provide!

I give my thanks for allowing me to share with you, how my day had put a "spring" in my step and an overall positive feeling in my heart, of what is just ahead! I challenge you to find your "spring" moment and use that energy to fuel your motivation to accomplish things that you didn't think you could do! I would love to hear your stories, please feel free to leave a comment below, I would love to experience your "spring" moment as well!

Reward yourself today and experience something that Satisfies Your Senses!

~ Mary