Meet The Makers: Fire & Cork
I'm a long time believer in 'homemade, custom-made, made in America, support local'. I have always loved crafting and developing the unique...adding that something special, something unusual, to whatever I'm working on. I learned to sew Halloween costumes for my daughters when they were young, so they could have something different and unique. I use to create photo albums with assorted pictures, memorabilia, captions, dates, anything to create a memory beyond just a photo. I love to cook, bake & tweak a recipe to make it my own. And I love to share this process with my family and friends and now my grandchildren.
Almost 3 years ago, I was searching for soy candles for the holidays, locally, but was not able to find them. I had read a story about creating soy candles and it really caught my attention. As an allergy & asthma sufferer, I had difficulty burning ordinary candles, as they would trigger my symptoms. So after a great deal of research, I learned to create, through a lot of trial and error and with great support from my husband, a healthy, uniquely scented line of candles. We both decided to use the discarded wine bottles from our local winery as our 8 oz candle jars (which burn about 45 hours) and he taught himself how to cut & sand these bottles. We had only been living in St. Augustine for about 2 years and thought we would try to sell some of these candles at our favorite Saturday farmer's market...helping us meet other locals,too.
Well, they really caught on at the farmer's market and because we have so many visitors to the St. Augustine area, from around the country and the world, we were meeting some amazing people...and loving it! Our customers enjoyed taking home a local, hand-made, clean burning, 'gift-boxed' candle to remember their visit to our beautiful city, and often gifting to a friend, neighbor, or family member upon their return. They even look us up on their return visits...many are 'snowbirds' and share our love of this town. We always hear folks saying, 'we love to support local vendors'.
I also learned that so many people did not understand the importance of enjoying a scented candle that was of pure soy. So I found myself educating customers on thehealth benefits of soy wax and how to burn these candles efficiently so they would last a long time. I only use the finest soy wax derived from midwest farms. I custom-blend all my scents using premium fragrance oils, that are both skin safe & free of phthalates. Cotton wicks are a must as these, too, contribute to a healthier candle. We have a strong commitment to American made products and it was very important for us to keep our candles well-priced.
We have recently added Spanish glass jars to our line in both a 10 oz (burns almost 60 hours) and our 4 oz mini (burns almost 25 hours). Spanish glass is the only glass that is 100% recycled glass. Our 10 oz candle is known as our 'Gray Label' candles. These are packaged inWe are pleased to be able to raise awareness for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, by donating $1 from the sale of each of our 10 oz Spanish glass candles.
My husband & I are very proud to be a participant in the 'Makers' of St. Augustine. There is so much talent here among our amazing neighbors and we thank everyone for their support!