A candle blog written by an escaped academic turned candlemaker
Greetings woodland creatures! This post inaugurates the beginning of what I hope will be a regular set of entries related to candle making, candle inspiration, collaboration, small business life, and other bits rolling around in my brain. While I’ve had my website up and running for over a year and half, I have yet to make use of the blog feature due to lack of time, and, if I’m being honest, due to a bit of uncertainty as well. It’s definitely not for a lack of words, as you’ll find out if you have the stomach for reading entire paragraphs.
That uncertainty is paradoxically related both to my lack of confidence in finding any readers (does anyone actually want to read a blog about candle making?) and to my fear of actually finding readers (what if someone reads my thoughts?? from my brain??) In some ways, I’m afraid of writing too much, or in too much depth, or too widely. If you’re here, you might have noticed that my candles all have a story. In fact, they all begin with story, rather than scent, and often involve research that has nothing to do with fragrance oils. It’s all too easy for me to slip from “how I made X candle” to “why all vampires are queer,” as some of you may have already experienced. Lastly (and I realize that this may sound ridiculous coming from someone who spent over a decade in academia and has a PhD in English, but alas) I’m somewhat nervous about writing in a public space. Now you might read that sentence and think “Relax, the three people who will read this hardly constitute The Public,” and most likely you are correct. But aside from the odd academic journal article or chapter in an edited collection, I don’t think I’ve ever written for anyone outside of my students, the attendees at extremely specialized academic conferences, or my dissertation committee. Even as I write this silly little introduction to a candle blog, I’m keenly aware of the fact that putting writing out there is deeply personal and it chafes at my hermit-like tendencies.
One of the lessons I’ve been learning lately, or perhaps a lesson that has been banging at the door for the better part of a decade and I’ve finally decided to let it in, is that there is freedom in embracing that particular kind of discomfort. There’s freedom and sometimes even connection in leaning into it, and it’s probably time for me to do so. Simply from a business perspective, founder-led content is key, so if that’s what it takes, I suppose this is your notice to be prepared for the slightly strange, hopefully at least sometimes interesting ramblings I’ll be sharing here.
Since this is my first candle season as a full-time candlemaker, I’ve concluded that I should simply embrace the Sagittarian sprawl of my interests and just see where they take me. Yes, maybe some of my posts end up being more like a mini literature syllabus or a discussion of some 17th-century paintings I’m using for label art, but what of it?
Here in at The Hermitage, you can expect to find discussions of my current candle projects, of previous, current, and future collaborations with other artists and makers, of the historical, literary, and folkloric inspirations behind my candles, recaps of what’s currently got my creative juices flowing, and probably some rambling bits about other non-candle related writing projects that are germinating in my brain.
Drop me a comment to say hello, or let me know if there’s something in particular you’d like to hear about!:)