Going nuts

Going nuts today as I'm trying to bring everything together.  All candles from now on, or within the next few days, will be scented.  Number crunching all day trying to sort things out and keep prices relatively low.  Waiting for stock for replies, for ever.

Tartan Candle

Celtic Knot Candle

Celtic Knot Candle

Celtic Knot Candle

Sorry for the delay or the ‘gap’.  I was very happy with the finished book Do Abseiling Spiders Wear Crampons In Winter’  It was a long and a difficult task but I was pleased that I managed to get all the photographs added in.  The problems about different sizes and only being able to take black and white certainly wore me down, but I got there. 

Unfortunately I was alerted by one friend who said that she had tried to order one copy of Spiders and one copy of the Fairy tales and had been asked for £61 postage.  I had not gone through the ordering system as a normal shopper would, so using one of my e-mail accounts went through and was very disappointed with not just the price of the book but the huge postage they were lumping on top.  I really felt like removing my books when I came up with an idea that would still, put the books out plus, the photographs, and I could control the price of each unit.  I would offer the books as audio books.  I have all the equipment and even have the website. 

So; if you will excuse me.  I’m off to create some audio files.  

When I started this blog I was worried that I might not be able to add to it every day.  And that has happened.  At the moment I am re-writing a novel of mine called Do Abseiling Spiders Wear Crampons In Winter?   It's a funny book about all the different situations I have faced on my journey from being expelled from boarding school to receiving an award on the New Years Honors list.  I have written the book before, but due to my computer breaking down I have ended up with different parts saved from different drives.  I didn't like what I was reading so I decided that the best approach would be to re-write the whole thing.  Today I shall be writing chapter 14.  I think there will be about twenty chapters, so once I have completed the twenty chapters I will have to edit it quite heavily and try to make sure that it will actually gets some laughs.
So, if you'll excuse me, all candles have been poured for today and now it's time to get creative.  Type soon.  Himself.

The Celtic Knot Square

The Celtic knot is perhaps the most recognizable artwork in Celtic history.   The Celtic knot symbol, is also referred to as the mystic knot, or the endless knot. There are no written records of what the various knots symbolized at the time they were originally created.

Celtic knots are not designed to be merely pleasing to the eyes. They are also symbols that can show us how we are all part of a never ending cycle of life, where we each add our particular strand in the fabric of time and space.

The Celtic Knot Square is another ‘satisfying’ candle.  It’s just a very pleasant object to look at.  Children love tracing along the pattern with their finger, trying to work out where the knot begins and of course where it ends.

  

Each Celtic Knot Square candle stands at just under five inches tall  (120mm) and is 4 inches (100mm) square.  Each Celtic Square weighs 930gms which is two pounds and one ounce in old money. 

This is a decent lump of a candle, solid and perfectly square.  The Celtic knot that hugs the square is 10mm deep.

Their meanings are really in the eyes of the artists and of the beholder. And they are much more abstract than symbolizing specific human emotions or relationships. As with most Celtic symbols, the meaning of various knotwork designs are more abstract and are usually more related to the universe and life in general.

As we make all of our own candle moulds you will not find another candle like this anywhere in the world and as each candle is hand poured, handcrafted and hand finished no two candles will ever be the same. 

  

This is indeed a unique and special item.  You can use it as a thank you gift or as a gift to show someone how much you care about them, or you can pamper yourself.

So if you are interested then why not pop on over to our web site which is at http://www.celtic-illumination.co.uk/

Celtic Knot Drum

I suppose this candle was a natural follow on from the Celtic Love Heart Candle.

This candle weighs 850gms and is five (5) inches tall.  Like our other Celtic Knot Candles, the Celtic knot that wraps around this candle is 10mm deep.

This candle, as I hope you can see from the photograph above, really does make a wonderful table center piece.

The black version of this candle seems to be the most popular, perhaps because the deep black color makes the gold paint stand out so much.

I have actually tried to cover the Celtic Knot design with gold leaf but it proved too tricky a job for me.

The white version is quite popular for weddings, as is the white Celtic Knot Love Heart.

Again, I only offer a standard range of colors with this candle being, Blue, Red, White, Black, Green and Orange.  However I am always willing to try and produce colors that match the customers requirements.

13.5

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Celtic Knot Love Heart Candle

Perhaps the most popular candle in our whole range is the Celtic Knot Love Heart Candle.  When I attend craft shows these candles literally fly off the table.  It is one of those satisfying objects that once you touch, or feel, or hold it, you find it very hard to let go.  Like the Tartan Candles, I often saw candles that had nothing more than stickers attached and which claimed to be Celtic knot candles, either that or they would have a design drawn on and somehow or other they just didn’t appeal to me.  

It took some time and a mixture of techniques to get the finished product and I can assure you, and as I hope you can see, it is a very satisfying product.

Each Celtic Knot Love heart candle weighs 700gms, that just over 1 ¼ pounds in old money.  The Celtic knot design that wraps itself around the candle is 10 mm deep.

I am often asked if these candles carry any fragrance and the simple answer is no.  In fact I often get quite angry as these are candles and not air fresheners.  I could add  fragrance oil to any of the candles but it would take the cost far too high and it would also mean that, because of the way the fragrance oil seeps out of the wax, that the gold paint would not adhere properly to the pattern on the candle. 

The range of colours is endless and I only offer as standard, Red, Green, Blue, Black, White, Pink, and Orange.   However, I am always willing to make a specific colour should a client request it.

The white Celtic Knot Love Heart Candle has proved to be very popular as a table center piece for wedding receptions.  Firstly they really do set the tables off.  Secondly people are always reluctant to light them and thirdly they seem to evaporate at the end of the evening.

Initially the greatest interest came from Irish Americans however; the Celtic Knot patterns seem to appeal to our Wiccan/New Age friends.

Although I had named this candle as a Celtic Knot Love Heart Candle, in some communities it has begun to be called the Heart Of Ulster.

Whatever name is given to this, our most popular candle, doesn't really matter, because it is so simple and pleasing and just a pleasure to look at.  Plus, and something that many people like, each candle is hand poured, hand made, hand decorated.  No two candles are the same and as I am limited by time and equipment these wonderful objects will never be produced in such numbers that in time there would be so many about that they would begin to blend into the curtains and wallpaper.

And so:-

Of course the number of color combinations possible would be astronomical so I have settled on six basic color schemes.  Four of these are referred to by the color of the cap, Red, Yellow, Black and Blue.  The two other color combinations are Red, White and Blue or Green, White and Orange.

Each individual Tartan Candle is four (4) pounds in weights or 1.8kg if you are using new money.  So quite a insubstantial candle.
Each Tartan Candle is made up with over eighty (80) separate pieces of paraffin wax.  Perhaps now you can understand why I am so worried about them breaking while in the postal system.
Each Tartan Candle stands at seven and a half inches tall which is 19cm in new money.

Celtic Knot Candles

It was one of those 'Eureka' moments.  I actually swung my legs out of bed and suddenly realized that I knew how to make a tartan candle.  But a real tartan candle, not a standard candle with a sticker attached.
It took some time, a matter of months, to make and break and research.  the most difficult part of the process was working out how to make the spine that would hold the whole thing together and then how to get out out of the mold without snapping.
My only problem now is worrying (I'm a natural worrier) that each Tartan candle stays together when in the postal system.