Date: 2006-08-24 02:32 Subject: The Viking candle made the Etsy front page. Security: Public Location: I should be sleeping, but I'm writing anyway Mood: calm Music: the whir of computer fans Tags: candles, etsy, making stuff

How cool - my Viking candle made the Etsy front page. I've gotten the chance to make some new friends and received several notes from other Etsy-ers, including another candlemaker!

Etsy is a really nice website; it's like Ebay for handcrafted items, only about 100 times as nice as Ebay. Ebay gives me the same impression as going to Fry's or Costco: it's too big, too hard to find stuff, and you always wonder if you're missing something. When I look on Ebay, I often feel like I'm marching down aisle after aisle in a 100-foot warehouse.

Etsy, however, gives a much warmer and friendlier feeling. If Ebay is a warehouse full of mixed trash, treasure, and "buyer beware," Etsy is like that friend you always take on your shopping trips because of her amazing ability to find "treasure" wherever she goes.

If people think "crafts" is another word for "a bunch of weird macrame or ugly knitting," send 'em to Etsy. They'll soon think of crafts as something only cool, hip, creative people know about, and a place you can get boutique-quality handmade clothing, bath and body products, and artwork straight from the artists.


See what this Etsy stuff is all about.

Date: 2006-08-15 12:32 Subject: On Making Candles Security: Public Tags: candles, making stuff

I recently read a post on someone's blog or forum that described a beginning candlemaker's frustration at how long it takes. I don't know what kind of candles they were making, but as I made three micro-batches of soy containers yesterday, I had to admit it: he/she was right.

Making candles does take a long time, and you know what? I like it! This is my hobby, the thing I do with my hands to free my creativity. Hobbies are labors of love - if I wanted to save time, I'd just buy candles. But I enjoy the whole process: blending the scents, placing the individual wicks, waiting for them to cool, labelling the tins.

For me, it's not an exercise in patience; it's an excuse to participate in a kind of meditation. The entire process of candlemaking is a sensory experience that fires my creativity for writing like nothing else.

Sometimes, I end up watching the creamy wax melt, letting my mind wander through both good and bad ideas for my assignments. The sound of the water in the double-boiler is meditative, and the fragrances always evoke strong memory and emotional responses that I hope are transmitted to the end user of the candle whether I sell them or give them as gifts.

I make them to please myself first - both to do something with my hands, and to burn during writing sprees. I think if it were more of a commercial exercise, my patience would be tested; for now, it's a labor of love!