Sunday 23 May 2010

Oh Mojo, where art thou?

The absence of recent blog posts will probably indicate the current disenchantment that I'm experiencing with my artistic endeavours!

Maybe it's to do with what's generally going on in my life which could rival an Eastenders script for drama, the non contact from galleries that I contacted putting my art & soul on the line, the lack of sales- which I always put down to disinterest, knowing full well most people on the planet are skint!
I know that "art" is a tough market, it's personal taste, it's about matching your decor- and I've always produced works that I want to, on a subject matter that I like, instead of having a home decor/commercial head on.

It hit me at the Late Shows market last week that the people who do well are foodie, jewellery, etc types. So I thought "what if I could create something still artisticly minded but a little more commercial?" But it'd need a twist, I don't wanna be another craft person who drowns in a sea of sameness...

So I decided to take a break from the canvas, find inspiration, and still be creative. So what did I decide to dabble in?

Candle making! Everyone loves candles, don't they?!

Last night, after extensive reading, research and obtaining supplies I made my first candle! It started off as a plain white, non fragranced, container soy wax candle. I was overjoyed! So I melted more wax, added gold dye this time and made 6 tealights. Excellent! I knew this was getting addictive. Then I had a stroke of genius.

I had left over gold wax. My plain white candle was sitting there, it had largely set in its creme brulee dish. So I poured the gold wax on top of the white (largely cos I didn't wanna waste it & it's bad to pour down the drain!) So there it was, sitting there looking kinda like an actual creme brulee. To this end, I got brown wax and grated it over the top. Voila! Now it has to sit for 24hrs before I light it!

Candles will need extensive testing and product insurance in case I decide to go ahead selling them. But I've got to, I have big & exciting candle plans already! I've even thought of a candle business name, oh I do like to get terribly ahead of myself!!

But as they say, a change is as good as a rest. I got excited about this candle making malarkey. Maybe I can find a way to transfer that back into my artwork...



3 comments:

  1. That's awesome, it looks so realistic! I've always wanted to try candle making as I really like this sort of bakery style candle :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks sugarmice! :)

    I know, was a bit shocked at how well it turned out, especially as it was my first one! You should totally try it, I can tell it's gonna be totally addictive! Can't wait to make a scented candle... gonna try that tonight :)

    It's so easy to do in your own kitchen, if you're interested then I totally recommend the candles, soap and scent forum:

    http://s3.zetaboards.com/Candles_Soap_n_Scent/index/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh Victoria, that looks good enough to eat!! good luck with the candle making...looks great :) xx

    ReplyDelete