The scents of North Goa, and how we built our range
Monsoon earth, cashew blossom, kokum and a church on a feast day: where each of our candles started.
Your first candle-making workshop: what to expect
Two and a half hours, two candles, a scent you blend yourself. What happens on a Saturday afternoon at the studio.
Our Saturday workshop starts at 4 pm, when the heat has gone off the afternoon. Eight people sit around the long pouring table, and the first thing we do is smell.
There are about 30 small bottles of fragrance and essential oils on the table, from vetiver and cedarwood to jasmine, lime and clove. We explain top, middle and base notes, and you blend your own scent on paper strips, adding a drop at a time, until you have something you like. Most people take about 40 minutes; nobody is hurried.
Then the wax. We show you how to fix a wick in the centre of a jar, how to melt soy wax in a double boiler and why temperature matters. You weigh your scent into the hot wax, stir it for two minutes, wait for it to cool to the pouring point, and pour two 150 g candles: one in a glass jar, one in a tin.
While they set, there is tea and Goan snacks, usually bebinca or patoleo in season and something savoury. You name your scent and write your own labels. Candles need about two hours to set firmly enough to travel; if you are leaving straight away, we pack them in a box with straw. If you can, collect them the next day. Wear clothes you do not mind a spot of wax on. The workshop is for ages 14 and up and needs no experience at all.
