The Quiet Foundation of Candle Making: Beginning With Intention

Even though candle making is an art that revolves around recipes, temperatures, and ingredients, the best creations stem from what happens before any wax is melted. The key to a beautiful candle is intention. Knowing your purpose for making a candle, sets the tone for every action moving forward. From the materials you use, to the speed at which you work, and even your emotional state. Once you have a purpose, you tend to move slower and react less. You are more likely to watch and wait rather than act impulsively.

As soon as you start preparing the wax, you are required to be aware. You can’t simply grab a type of wax, because it’s the one you always use. You must observe the wax, how it melts, holds a fragrance, or solidifies. In these early stages, you build a trust with your wax, and over time, your trust becomes confidence.

Your intention should also set the tone for your emotional state. The process of making a candle reacts to your patience, focus, and energy. If you’re in a rush or distracted, your surface may not be even, you may trap air, or your elements may be out of place. If you start from a calm place, your movements will be more calculated and your decisions more sound. Not perfect, but sound. Don’t push for perfection, create the space for your mistakes to teach rather than frustrate you. The craft of candle making values patience over speed.

As you place your elements into the candle, your intention should guide you. If you are working with botanicals, color, or fragrance, sometimes less is more. Every element should have a purpose, and once your candle is balanced and visually cohesive, you must know when to stop. Here is another place that the act of candle making has taught me about the value of editing. In the beginning, I found that I always wanted to add one more thing. One more botanical leaf or one more fragrance oil. After a while, I realized that when I pushed the limits, I ended up with a product that felt cluttered. I had to learn when to stop. As with many things in this craft, you don’t learn when to stop by following a set of rules, you learn by watching.

Candles made with intention always look more complete. They burn more consistently, are more visually appealing, and feel complete rather than accidental. This effect isn’t the result of elaborateness or ornamentation, it’s the result of exercising the simple discipline of starting with awareness. Treating the beginning of the process with the same care as the end of the process, allows the craft of candle making to become a practice of awareness. With every candle you create, you are not only exhibiting your technical skills, you are exhibiting your presence.