Hello To All,
The Vibe Candle Co. began in June of 2023, and nearly one year later we are finally getting products out to business. Candle making seems easy enough, right? Melt some wax.. put a wick in a jar.. pour the wax.. call it a day. Simple enough. WRONG! There is SO much to candle making and making the perfect candle. There are tons of wicks, waxes, containers/vessels, beeswax, paraffin, soy, soy blend.. not to mention the temperature of the wax, the temperature of the room you are in.. humidity.. The list goes on. I made the mistake of jumping in head first, only to have to climb out of my initial investment with more knowledge to have the courage to invest more.
So.. why candles? The story is one I never imagined I would tell. It began with a breakup. After nearly 5 years, my relationship was coming to an end due to religious reasons/differences of opinion/interpretation (something I thought we had already agreed on and were on the same page about). We spoke of religion a lot, so as you can imagine I was caught completely off guard when she told me she was moving out of our apartment, because she couldn't live in sin. 3 days later, she was gone.
Although, as I'm sure some of you can agree, I was a little bitter and felt as though the earth had been swept right from under me. I was planning to marry her. Looking around my huge empty apartment, bare white walls where stamps of memorable moments in pictures used to be, I decided I needed to get some home decor to fill some space, so my environment didn't look as bad as I felt.
I came to the realization that I had never decorated before. I was more of a bare minimum kinda person. The way she decorated our apartment made it feel like there was love all around. Pictures of good times, pictures of family, and.. candles.
On my first trip I stumbled upon a candle called 'Man Cave'. Who made it? I have no idea, I just know that it smelled SO good. And I remember the feeling of empowerment that this simple candle with this simple name, actually empowered me. It put a smile on my face and I allowed myself to look on the bright side of what was to come (women, friends, parties). All to cover up my grief, but hey, I had to take back some control of what was going on.
Did I have any parties? Absolutely not because I don't like people in my space, I like to keep to myself. Did I have friends over? Absolutely not, because I didn't have any. Did I have women over? Maybe a couple.. and I lit that candle every time because it smelled so good and I felt so cool. Crazy how a candle can provoke those feelings.
One candle. Something so simple brought so much excitement and happiness and confidence, I wondered why there weren't more candles geared towards masculine scents. Most candles were flowery or citrus and marketed towards more feminine consumers. This is where the conception of The Vibe Candle Co. began. I figured I could make masculine scents that empowered those who considered themselves more masculine.
One click on Amazon for a candle making starter kit, and I was off to the races! I made my first few candles and fell in love. Granted, this kit came with everything needed, including the correct wick size and the right wax and the right container. Someone already did their homework for me. I did not realize this until I tried to get more wax, not in a kit, and became completely overwhelmed with the choices.
I spent any extra money I had on wicks, waxes, vessels, and tools. I became a mad scientist in my room, and slowly but surely my room became my laboratory and library. I studied, I watched videos, I had (and still do to this day) notebooks upon notebooks of notes and blends and aromatherapy suggestions and wick properties and wax properties and why do these things matter. I loved getting new notebooks because that meant I was gathering more and more info to make the perfect candle.. only to find that the only way to do that was testing, testing, testing!
What I love about candles is they are all unique. Even if you make a batch, with all the same containers, wicks, and wax, they all come out different. There's always a slight difference that make them like snowflakes to me, slightly unique in each individual one.
I spent 1 year, everyday, working on my craft. I learned so much, and I still have so much more to learn.
So please, take this journey with me as I dive deeper into my craft, myself, and the ups and downs of the candle making business.