The blend
Rapeseed and coconut wax in a ratio we settled on in 2016, after four years of trying to make soy behave in a straight-sided vessel. No paraffin, no stearin, no dye. The wax is off-white because that is the colour it is.
The making
A candle is a simple object made of three things that all want to behave differently. Most of what follows is about giving them time.
Wick trials
Every scent gets its own wick, and every vessel size gets its own again. A candle that tunnels has the wrong wick, not the wrong owner. Trials run for six weeks before a scent goes into production.
The first pour
Poured at 62°C into vessels warmed to room temperature. Cold glass is the single most common cause of the wet spots people mistake for a fault, and warming the vessels costs nothing but patience.
The second pour
Wax contracts as it sets and leaves a well around the wick. We pour a second, thinner layer into that well the next morning, which is why the surface is flat and why a candle takes two days rather than one.
The cure
Four weeks on a rack in the dark at 18°C. The scent binds to the wax over that time; a candle burned in week one smells thinner than the same candle in week five, which is the whole argument for curing.
The finish
Wicks trimmed to 5mm, vessels wiped, labels applied by hand, and a burn card in every box. Anything with a visible flaw goes to the seconds shelf in the Pantin workshop rather than into a box.
Burning one well
- First burn for two to three hours, until the pool of wax reaches the glass all the way round. This sets the memory of the candle; a short first burn will tunnel for the rest of its life.
- Trim the wick to 5mm before every burn. An untrimmed wick smokes and blackens the vessel.
- Never burn for more than four hours at a time. The vessel gets hot, the throw drops and the wick mushrooms.
- Stop at 10mm of remaining wax. Below that the glass takes more heat than it should.
Every box carries this on a card, because it is the difference between fifty hours and thirty.
Materials, plainly
Wax
Rapeseed grown in France and coconut wax from the Philippines. No paraffin.
Wicks
Unbleached cotton, no lead or zinc core, sized per scent and per vessel.
Fragrance
Blended in Grasse to our formulas, at 8 to 10 per cent depending on the scent.
Vessels
Glass pressed in the Loire, designed to be washed out and poured again.