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How Does Calyan Make Their Candles?

Hey there! Welcome to our candle shop in Arlington, Texas. We're glad you're here and we can't wait to show you how we make our candles.

Curtis holding candles like a boss
This is Curtis, one of our awesome Production Leads. He rocks!

 

Calyan was started in a bedroom where our founder, Jacob, used to melt wax on a warming plate, so it’s amazing and humbling to look at our brick and mortar shop and to recognize just how far we’ve come.

Every step of our candle making process falls under our company mission: to create top-quality candles with absolute integrity and to give back 5% of our revenue to help bring an end to human trafficking.

We're excited to show you how we make our candles from start to finish here at the Calyan candle shop. But first, here's a video of Carrah making a candle.

OUR VESSELS

First, we start with our vessels (candle containers). We use glass and metal vessels that can be recycled or reused once the candle is done. 

candle vessels

 

We select vessels that look great in any home. We currently have 4 lines of candles and one line of wax melts. Our candles come in Metal Tins, Glass Amber Jars, Clear Glass Tumblers, and Black Glass Tumblers. 

Once we have placed a safety label on the bottom of the vessel, it's time to get wicking!

TOTALLY WICK'ED

Believe it or not, there are several wick options out there to choose from, and not all of them are considered safe. Some companies use wicks that contain metal or lead to keep the wick stiff and out of the melted wax, but these wicks come with significant health concerns. At Calyan, we use woven-cotton wicks with no metal in them. 

candle wicks on a table

We attach these wicks to the bottom of our vessels by hand! We attach them with stickers that are aptly named "wick stickers". Then we secure the wicks in the center of the candle with some metal "wick holders".

Now it's time for some wax!

"WAX ON, WAX OFF"

Now that we have our vessels ready with our wicks attached. Next, it's time to melt some wax!

natural soy wax goodness

We use 100% soy wax in our candles because it is more sustainable than other wax alternatives out there, it's a renewable resource that comes from the ground, and it's produced right here in America! 

Our soy wax comes to us in flakes like the picture, and once melted it is almost ready to be poured into our vessels.

filling Owen (the melter) with wax
Filling the wax melter(his name is Owen) with natural soy wax.

Some companies will add paraffin (a waxy byproduct of the oil refining process) to their soy wax and will label their candles as "soy based" or "soy blend". When a candle has this on the label, it's very common that a good chunk of it is made with paraffin. Even a candle that says "soy candle" on the label may still contain some paraffin. When you see "100% soy candle" on a candle label, that means the candles have no paraffin at all, only soy. We proudly don't use any paraffin or additives in our wax and we make 100% soy wax candles.

We are proud that our wax is plant-derived, sustainably eco-friendly, and 100% natural soy that is made from soybeans harvested right here in America, thereby allowing us the privilege of supporting our local farmers. 

Now we're really cooking! Let's move on to our fragrances. 

OUR FRAGRANCE

This is the fun part! What makes our candles smell so good? The answer: fragrance oil.

Our fragrances are a mixture of safe, non-toxic, phthalate-free fragrance oils infused with essential oils. These oils include your favorite fragrances like musk, lavender, sandalwood, sage, cypress, and more. 

candle fragrance

We work with perfumers and/or mix fragrances ourselves to create unique and captivating fragrances that transport us to distant memories or far off places.

Once our wax is heated up, we add the fragrance and allow the wax and fragrance to do their magic, bind together, and become the beautiful smelling candles you know and love. 

We then fill each candle with our pouring machine and we leave them to dry! 

filling a candle GIF
Ya know, just making candles. It's kinda our thing...:)
dried candles ready to be packaged
100% natural soy candles drying.

CLEANING AND PACKAGING

After each candle has been poured, we wait a full 24 hours before we clip the wicks, clean, label, and package the candles. 

Our team carefully checks each candle to ensure it's perfect before it leaves the building and is sent to your home. Then it's packed up and sent to our fulfillment team!

labeling candle

OUR TEAM

The Production team making candles
You can walk into our brick and mortar store and watch our team make candles!

While technically not part of the candle making process, this is the one feature that sets our candles apart from your ordinary grocery store candles: our candles are handcrafted! In a world of automation and economic fears around job security, our locally employed team makes, labels, wicks, cleans, boxes, and packages all our candles by hand. And if you visit our storefront, you can not only watch them through the window into our production room, but you can almost always hear them listening to great music on the record player, laughing, and collaborating on upcoming new fragrances and candle ideas.

the calyan team having fun

Our team is the best and it’s an honor to work alongside people as committed as they are to seeing true freedom and dignity brought to those enslaved by sex-trafficking. 

THAT'S IT!

That's a wrap! Thanks for stopping by the Calyan Wax Co Candle shop . Click here to shop our candles and thank you for partnering with us as we kindle dignity together.

Interested in a candle shop tour with one of our team members? Sign up here and we will reach out when the next tour is available.