“Chicks Dig Candles”

That’s a quote from a conversation that I had with my friend Mike almost 10 years ago, when he was helping his wife with her new candle business, and for some reason felt the need to justify himself to me. I will admit, I was kind of wondering how a guy could credibly market something like candles. At the time, I was still hawking a much more “manly” product … waterless car wash. But Mike’s explanation of why, especially a single guy, might want have some candles around, sort of made sense.

Fast forward a couple of years later …

I was a divorced guy in my 30s, and I now sold candles. I did a lot of retailing at the time, so I kept a decent sized inventory … usually at least one of those big bookshelves, filled with a variety of different scents.

Ok, so where am I going with this?

Well, I remember this one evening. I had met a girl, and took her out to dinner. After dinner we decided to stop back a my apartment and watch a DVD. The night appeared to be going well. As we were sitting on my couch watching the movie, I noticed that she would occasionally look around the corner into my dining room, and then glance at me, before returning her attention to the movie.

I finally had to ask … “is there something wrong?”

So she looks back around the corner, turns to me and says, in a somewhat serious tone of voice: “You sure do have a lot of Candles … are you Gay or something?”

LOL, ok, so I guess Mike’s advice might not have worked out so well in that particular instance.

Now-a-days, I’m remarried, have another 1 year old daughter, and a pregnant wife … so I suppose you could say it’s a pretty safe bet that I’m a practicing heterosexual.

… but I am still a Guy with a huge shelf full of Candles

If you found your way here to this site, it’s probably a given that you have an interest in Scented Candles … which would put you in good company. From my experience, I think it would be pretty darn difficult to find someone who doesn’t burn candles; or at the very least knows people who do.

What I’m really curious about is, to what degree can the people who read Candle Monkey be classified as “candle freaks” … or to use a gentler term “candle lovers”?

I think this poll question helps get to the heart of the matter, although I suppose that we will also do some follow-up polls along the lines of how many candles are in your house? how many different brands? do you purchase? how long have you been burning candles? etc.,

But we’ll save that for a later day.

For now, I’d simply like to know …

Small but useful as they are, you could get them at 1 to 2 inches in diameter and 1 to 1 and a half when it comes to height. Slightly smaller than votive candles They could be bought in packages ranging from a few numbers of pieces to a hundred. This is a great option for you to choose from. You would be able to think of how many candles you would need and in response to your needs and your objectives.

Tea light candles are really great add-ons to your dinner table or anywhere in your dining room. But, those that are unscented could be a better choice since if they are aromatic; you and those who are around for a meal would get carried away with the scent and not the meal you prepared.

With their small size, you could feel free to light out some pieces and leave them for they could last for a long time. This is a proof that you will not waste money. They are affordable and are very practical for you. They could be really “in” for any special occasions or even for ordinary days. If there are occasions and you want gather visitors in your patio, you could put tea light candles around as you savor every moment shared with those people you choose to be with.

For ordinary days, they could make it special. When you soak yourself in a bath tub, you could place these candles around to soothe your mood and feel relaxed. In this case, you could enjoy the aroma of scented candles.

And if you want to have these tea light candles, you could learn how to make them online. There are websites that could give you a step by step means of making homemade tea light candles.

Experience that glow that could set you free of the negative feelings, try lighting out tea light candles.

Trendy- bracing some dashes of style, candles could be very good accessories for the home. In order for you to bring that fun atmosphere of the seaside, why not bring that sand and ocean mood at home?

Here are the step-by-step instructions for making your own seaside gel floating candles:

1. Find a container that would best hold into form the candle you have in mind. Make sure that you will be using non-flammable containers. Use glass if available, they could show the gel, choose something with a touch of aqua blue.
2. Plan to have the wick like about 1.5 inches from the sides and dribble a spot of hot glue on the bottom of the container you used.
3. Stick the wink on the hot glue and let it cool down for a few minutes. Don’t use cotton as core wick, zinc is the best choice.
4. For the gel, cut the gel wax into small parts or cubes and place it into a container and heat it up. Make sure that the heat is not too hot or too cold. 200 Fahrenheit could make it melt well.
5. Maintain the advised temperature until such time that the wax would melt and turn into a smooth and a bit thick liquid. For more attractive effects, you could use coloring materials that would create a better effect to the product.
6. Do not use coloring materials that would make the gel lose its transparency. Ignore the use of water-based and paste dyes as a combination. They do not complement each others components.
7. Pour ¼ of essential oil or gel scent for more effects that would make the candle “marketable”. When pouring such, add more wax cubes if there is a “cloudy” effect on the liquid.
8. Scents you use must be alcohol-free. For the aquatic theme, choose a “cool” scent than those which are fruity or musky.
9. When you are about to pour the candle liquid on a container, set a level mark and make sure that the liquid will not pass over it. Put some seashell beads, aquarium gravel, sand, aqua blue glitter, pebbles, and others. Do it by layer.
10. Make it a point to preheat the container (150 degrees). This would minimize the presence of bubbles that may ruin the form of the finished product.
11. Then pull up the wick and be sure that it goes up in the center of the candle. Let the candle cool down for 3-4 hours. Trim the wick at about ¼ inch.
12. You could vary the designs of your aquatic candles by mixing and matching colors and objects like starfish and clouds, sand and stars, boat prints and pebbles are just a few of the numerous possibilities.

The sand, sea, waves, bikinis, flip flops, hats… the beautiful sights of a summer afternoon could be reflected by your home made gel candles. This could set off as a mere past time but entrepreneurial opportunities may some day knock on your door. Gel candles are easy to make, affordable, convenient, and they could be those attractive possessions of your home.