Jun 26, 20202 min read

Ceramic Candle Collaboration

four porcelain ceramic candles arranged beautifully together

As a Ceramic Artist, I love having the opportunity to collaborate with other artists and brands. For me, collaborations offer the opportunity to explore new designs, be creative, and connect deeper with community.

I am excited to share my collaboration with Lit Home Fragrance to create a limited edition summer ceramic collection candle. I created the ceramic candle vessel, which is hand thrown and unique in each way. Each vessel is glazed on the inside to offer the opportunity for repurpose once the candle has been used. Lit filled the vessels with two beautiful candle fragrances - Fig & Cassis and Sea Salt & Rosemary.

When Janelle Vince, CEO & Founder of Lit, contacted me to do a collaboration I was excited and of course nervous. This was the first time I would be working with another brand and I wanted the end product to embody the sentiment of both our brands - modern, minimal and offering connection. But the most important aspect was creating a product that customers would love.

I thought I would share with you a bit of the making journey for the ceramic vessels so you can share an appreciation for the creative energy involved with the project.

All the vessels are made from Tucker's Bright White clay - a beautiful white porcelain clay. To begin making the vessels, I hauled a 20KG box of Tucker's onto my studio table, cut and weighed the clay until I had 50 morsels of the same weight. Then I wedged all the clay (this action can be thought of like kneading bread - it's a full body workout), which aligns all the clay particles.

Next I threw all the vessels to the correct height and width. Once the vessels were dried till they were no longer tacky, I cleaned up the bottoms and added the signature stamp. The vessels were then dried completely and then loaded into a kiln to be bisque fired (~1800degF). Once the kiln was cooled, the vessels were unloaded, individually washed, and sanded smooth. I then poured a clear glaze into the vessel and glaze fired them (~2300degF). Once all the vessels were finished, I packaged them (in lots of wrapping paper) and shipped them off to Janelle to pour the candles and prepare them for sale.

There are lots of steps involved in handcrafted items - design, creation, finishing, photographing, marketing, selling, packaging, shipping. Every step is a learning process that I enjoy as an Artist and entrepreneur. Having the ability to work with another artist through these steps to create a beautiful product was an absolute pleasure.