Ivory Candles
Ivory is what people reach for when a room should feel warm without shouting about it. It sits next to oak, linen and brass without arguing with any of them, which is why it ends up on a laid table, a hallway shelf or a bathroom ledge more readily than a strong colour would. Ivory is one of the base colours on every candle here, and on some it shares the surface with a second one — Candle Pinecone Diamond is brown-ivory.
The shapes go their own separate ways: pinecones, cones, pyramids, a right triangle, relief candles, small candles in tins and an Advent collection. Three different makeups run underneath. Pinecones, cones, pyramids and relief candles are a paraffin wax blend; the Svitsolka tins are plant-based wax (soy/rapeseed/coconut) with a cotton wick and fragrance essence; the VALLERI candles are soy wax, shea butter and jojoba oil.
Scent is settled apart from all that. Chocolate, Gingerbread, Eggnog-Crème Brûlée, Coffee and Choco-coffee on the warm side; Rose, Jasmine, Gardenia, Pear-Freesia and Lavender for the floral one; Lemon, Lemongrass, Mint, Peppermint, Rosemary and Orange when the room should feel brisk. Scent first, then the size that suits the spot, then the hours — in that order the choice tends to settle itself.
Which one for which evening, and what the first burn settles
Begin with the length of the evening rather than the height of the candle. The small VALLERI candles all stand 3.5 cm tall on a 4,3 cm width and weigh 0.025 Kg, and even so their hours part company: Ylang Ylang, Tea Tree and Spruce Needle are rated 6-12 hours, Lemongrass and Lemon 3-6 hours. In the larger VALLERI size, the same soy wax, shea butter and jojoba oil goes into a 6 cm candle, 6,8 cm across, 0.09 Kg, rated 12-24 hours.
For a table that has to stay lit through dinner and the talk after it, the Svitsolka tins are the plain answer. Rose, Lemon and Eggnog Creme Brulee measure 3.5 cm high and 5.5 cm across at 0.06 Kg, rated 20–25 hours; Chocolate and the large Gingerbread step up to 4.5 cm and 7.5 cm across, 0.1 Kg, rated 30-35 hours. The cotton wick belongs to these two sizes, together with plant-based wax (soy/rapeseed/coconut) and fragrance essence.
When the candle is meant to be looked at, not only lit, Relief Candle MARIE Ivory rises to 16 cm on a 4 cm width, weighs 0.27 Kg and is rated 28-39 hours, while Relief Candle ROSE Brown stays at 9 cm, 0.15 Kg, 12-21 hours. The Advent Candle Collection ROBERT comes in heights of 18-12-12-7 cm, weighs 0.58 Kg and is rated 77-100 hours — nothing else here reaches that far. All of it comes out of our own workshop in Královské Poříčí, where a camera runs while the candles are being made.
Then two habits. Shorten the wick before every match. On the first evening give the flame long enough for the pool of wax to spread right to the rim; stop it early and the burns that follow keep to the narrow channel left behind. Underneath it wants something firm and non-flammable, out of the draught, away from children and animals, and never alone in an empty room.