CRAFTS IN THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN AREA

Mountain Crafts

For centuries man used candles as a source of light. Today we use candles to celebrate special occasions, create a romantic and cozy atmosphere, and fill our lives with delightful scents that take us far away from the stresses of modern life—back to the days when candles were used to light our world. Here in the Smokies, many different types of candles are made the old fashioned way—not churned out on massive assembly lines. Join us as we visit Lovebug Candles to learn how they make their highly scented container candles

Hand-Crafted Candles—

Local candle crafters Marv and Anna Pratt make their jar candles one at a time using only the finest specialty waxes, scenting oils, and additives. Marv works in the “back room” developing the perfect formulas for each scent (more than 80 specific formulas)—he emerges with his creations and Anna uses a laser printer to design personalized labels for the candles. The labels add a special touch to Marv’s candles—they commemorate special occasions and are used as business promotional gifts and by fund-raisers and gift shops.

Container candles may look simple to make—but making a really good container candle is not as simple as it seems. They should be made with a low temperature, low shrink wax formula that retains scent, has a large melt pool, and a long burning time. Let’s take a look at what goes on in Marv’s back room.

Containers

Marv’s first task is to prepare the glass containers by hot gluing primed and tabbed zinc core wicks in the bottom of the glass jelly jars and heating the jars in a warming cabinet to 150 degrees F. When the soft wax is poured into these prepared glass jars, the appearance of the candle will be better because the jars have been warmed.

Wax & Additives

Two low-temperature specialty waxes (one for single color candles and the other for multiple color and scent candles) are maintained at a constant temperature in large melting vats. The wax already contains Vybar for scent retention and to reduce wax shrinkage when it’s poured into the containers. Marv has already added a UV inhibitor—any candle should be kept out of direct sunlight but all candles fade with time. To keep candle color fading to a minimum, this is an important step in making a quality candle.

Color & Scent-

When the blended wax is melted, Marv transfers it into individual hand-pouring pots and adds a liquid dye. Some dyes are liquid and others are powder, but experience has shown that liquid dyes work best. Each candle has its own color to correspond with its scent and name. Next it’s time for the most important step in the procedure—time to add the scenting oil. He adds as much oil as possible. Experimentation determines how much can be added to the wax to produce a very strong candle without having so much oil in the mix that it will separate from the wax when the candle cools. For each candle, the type of wax and dye used and the consistency of the scenting oil all mix together differently. This results over time in finding the exact formula that works for each scent to make the best candle possible.

Cooling—

Finally the candles must be placed back into the warming cabinet to be cooled to room temperature slowly. This keeps shrinkage to a minimum and produces a candle that looks as good as it smells.

The Finishing Touch. It’s Anna’s turn to work now—she trims the wicks, checks each candle to make sure it looks and smells great, and adds burning instruction labels to the bottoms of the jars. Now the candles are ready for the finishing touch—the labels she’s created either for Lovebug or for other businesses around the country go onto the jars. Here at last is another small batch of their hand-crafted candles—ready to go onto their shelf or into the box to be shipped to one of Lovebug’s wholesale customers. We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing how container candles are made. To learn more about Lovebug Candles, you can contact them through their website www.lovebugcandles.com.

Safety Tips—

Lighted candles should always be within sight—don’t burn one on or near anything that can catch fire. Keep candles out of the reach of children and pets and away from drafts. Trim wicks to 1/4 inch and keep wax pools free of wick trimmings, matches, or other debris. For best results, container candles should be burned for no more than 4 hours at a time. Because the special container wax becomes a liquid, it should be cooled back to solid form so that the wick will not mushroom and to make sure that the candle burns clean.

The Perfect Gift—

No longer just a source of light, candles are growing in popularity and are used in most American households today. They mark our celebrations and ceremonies, decorate and add pleasant scents to our homes, and bring romance into our lives. Candles cast a warm glow for everyone to enjoy just as they did in the past.

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