Can you tell I'm a little excited that I can finally share my new Artisan Candle Collection with you all.
It's funny how some ideas begin. The inspiration behind this collection came from a visit back up to Cumbria last Christmas. I felt like I had lost direction a little as a candle maker. I craved design and more creativity and wasn't sure how to fulfil this.
A well needed break visiting our family and friends up in Cumbria was what we as a family needed. Time to relax and reconnect and what I didn't realise at the time, gave me the headspace I needed to dream up new creative unique ideas.
There's a great place we love to visit whenever we travel back, Rheged, just outside Penrith. It's full of fab shops, coffee shops and galleries showcasing work from lots of independent brands. We stumbled across an art exhibition and then wandered across to the art and design books in the shop opposite. I came across a couple of books all about traditional print techniques and whilst still in awe of the artists I had just admired, became drawn to the skill and process of linocut and printing.
When we returned home to Essex, I started to research other lino and block print artists and began thinking that this could be a new craft for me to learn, a craft where I could design my own prints, zone out of everything else whilst carving and reproduce on lots of different materials, paper, fabric etc.. but at this point I had never considered glass!
I began following inspirational artists such as Molly Mahon, I adore her instagram account, how she embraces traditional block print craftsmanship and how she works so closely with talented printers in Jaipur. I bought her book along with a couple of others and immersed myself in learning this wonderful method of print.
The bug had truly hit and a lightbulb moment happened when I realised there could be a way I could use this technique to create a whole new scented candle collection.
The design had to involve olive branches, of course and I figured the simpler the better to create a clean design that could work in most homes.
My initial thought was to print a design onto a paper label to then add to a candle glass but this didn't fit into my passion for offering a jar that can be easily washed out and reused. Without the label, it's just a glass like any other. I came across a few more hurdles such as which paint to use so that it actually permanently dried on the glass without being fired, printing a clean cut meant trialling various lino's but I got there and I'm super proud of the end result.
Then began the journey to choose the perfect scents...
Well I think you've read for long enough, and if you made it this far, I am truly grateful for your time.
I'll save this story for my next blog post so until then, hopefully you'll get to enjoy some sunshine and remember rest and relaxation can have the power for a whole new chapter to begin...
Helen X