Happy December! On this first day of the month in which the holiday season really kicks in, I’m excited to announce that I have opened a handmade soy candle shop on Etsy called Zoe Walter Candles! Where did the shop name come from? Well, I pretty much pulled a Brick Tamland “I Love Lamp” by looking around and deciding to use the names of our two cats, Zoe and Walter. 🙂
A little backstory: I took a soy candlemaking workshop at Brooklyn Candle Studio about a year and a half ago and enjoyed it enough to get a candlemaking kit to try it on my own. The candles turned out well, and then I had an idea: why not make a series of candles with scents inspired by the twelve months of the year?
I brainstormed some ideas and selected fragrance oils that I felt best embodied each month. So, for example, my December candle has aromas of fir, pine, Christmas tree, holiday citrus, and fireplace smoke.
Where I ultimately landed fragrance-wise for each month:
- January Inspiration: fire and spice (notes of smoke, wood, clove, amber, sandalwood, patchouli)
- February Inspiration: Valentine’s Day (notes of sweet rose, lily, fern, marigold)
- March Inspiration: spring cleaning (notes of lemon, freshly washed laundry drying in the breeze)
- April Inspiration: the appearance of greenery and warmer weather (notes of freshly cut grass, orange, sandalwood)
- May Inspiration: lilacs and other floral abundance (notes of lilac, lily, hyacinth, rose)
- June Inspiration: warm weather and fruity cocktails (notes of watermelon, cucumber, mint)
- July Inspiration: summer escape in the Caribbean (notes of fresh coconut, pineapple, vanilla)
- August Inspiration: ocean breeze carrying the scents of summer (notes of fresh melon, bergamot, orange, lavender, violet, bois de rose)
- September Inspiration: cooling down and cozying up (notes of wood, musk, herbs, amber)
- October Inspiration: the start of pumpkin spice season! (notes of nutmeg, cinnamon, clove)
- November Inspiration: winter holidays, mulled wine, and warm sweets (notes of spicy orange, nutmeg, clove, vanilla, caramel)
- December Inspiration: fireplace weather and holidays (notes of fir, pine, orange, fireplace)
I personally whipped up a small batch of each month’s candles in my Brooklyn apartment, and they are now available for purchase on my Etsy store! Each 8 ounce soy wax candle costs $15 plus tax and shipping.* The soy wax is produced using American-grown soybeans, and the fragrance oils are phthalate-free and dye-free.
Hot tip: (see what I did there?) the first time you burn one of my candles—or any candle, really—I highly recommend burning it long enough to fully melt across the width of the surface. This will help prevent “tunneling” upon future burns—you know, that thing that happens when a candle only melts a small hole down into the center of the candle instead of melting evenly across the whole container. No one likes a tunneled candle! It’s also good practice to trim the wick to 1/4″ before each burn.
You can buy a candle for your favorite month or purchase a whole season’s worth to evoke a particular mood in your home. These candles will make nice holiday gifts, too—especially as a little hostess gift for all of those upcoming holiday parties. I don’t have much inventory because I made these by hand in my own kitchen and don’t have a lot of room to make and store all of these candles…so get ’em while you can. 🙂
In case you’re wondering which months’ scents are my favorite, I’m particularly partial to February, May, and September.
So that’s my big announcement! Thank you very much in advance for your support of my store, Zoe Walter Candles.
*I currently only ship within the U.S.
