Sharing the best of nature through our products: for you, your family and friends.
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History of Soy Candle Cottage, LLC Necessity: the mother of invention (or success in finding alternatives): I have enjoyed candles my entire life. After building a new home, I noticed a black dust on our shutters (of course it‘s the same thing I‘ve dusted from our TV for years). Cleaning the light colored shutters was a difficult task, determined to learn the source...I learned that it came from the candles I enjoyed so much. Seeking an alternative, my daughter and I found soy candles!I learned that paraffin candles are a petroleum-based product. This is why paraffin candles emit soot which blackens not only the candle jar but your home's curtains, walls, and ceilings, too. Paraffin candle fumes also produce low levels of formaldehyde. Soy candles have several advantages: they burn cooler, which makes them a safer candle and causes them to last longer. They have a tendency to burn more evenly than paraffin candles, emit little soot, and they have almost no toxins (compared to eleven in a paraffin candle). Necessity transitions to ‘hobby’: My daughter and I began making the candles for our own use; and being typical candle burners, we wanted a variety of scents. Due to the length of time required to burn a soy candle, we experienced a multiplying effect on our candle shelf. Wanting to learn if there were others interested in a cleaner candle (and to reduce the number of candles on the shelf), we took our stock to the Edmond Farmers' Market. Finding an interest in our community, we became weekly vendors at the Farmers’ Market, selling our candles and sharing information we had learned about soy candles.Hobby becomes a small business: After selling our candles for a few weeks, we realized that we owed our community the sales tax from our sales. In an effort to pay those taxes, we learned the process to establish a small business in Oklahoma. I cannot say enough about the counselors at the Small Business Administration, SCORE and the employees staffing the state agencies involved in the development of small businesses! They were all friendly, helpful and professional. Their assistance made the process of establishing our small business a delight!My daughter and I provide the day-to-day support for our company, choosing products, making candles, lotions, creams and other products; the love of my life provides the heavy lifting, construction of workspace, and encouragement; my son provides on-going input and feedback for our candle scent choices, length of burn time, etc.; my daughter’s co-workers were a group of early customers, showing appreciation for the unique qualities of our candles; friends provide information on upcoming craft shows in which they believe our candles should be available; and the time and effort of many friends and family members have resulted in extra energy and enthusiasm for our activity and improvement of our website through their suggestions and feedback. Not to be overlooked, my little granddaughter reminds me why we do this when she sniffs a candle and says, "Bam-maw, this smells really gooooood!" Through the efforts of all these people, and many more than I haven’t named, we are able to provide you with a cleaner, healthier alternative in candles, nourishing soy creams and lotions, and every once in a while, a new product. We hope that you will enjoy our products as much as we do and that you'll enjoy using them as much as we enjoy making them! If you would like more information on the history of soy wax and candles, click here for more history. If you would like to know where you can purchase our products, click here for an updated list of locations. |
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Last modified: 07/18/10 |