Pure bayberry candles are making a comeback both in home candlemaking and in the mail-order catalogs which sell old-fashioned products, such as the Vermont Country Store, and upscale mail-order catalogs such as Smith & Hawken.
Candlemaking today is naturally an offshoot of the entire history of human candlemaking and its evolution from the earliest of times to the present. There are no real differences between candles made in the distant past and those made today, except for the techniques and processes, such as mass production. Let’s examine how the process of candlemaking has been modified throughout the history of our country.
The first known candles in America go back as far as the first century A.D. when Native Americans fished for “candlefish.” This fish is so oily that it could be used as a candle. To that purpose, candlefish was dried, then stuck on a stick and lighted.
When the European settlers began arriving in America, they found they had to be resourceful in order to survive in the New World. In the southwestern United States, early missionaries boiled bark from the Cerio tree, which produced a wax-like substance that they skimmed and used for making candles. They may also have used the desert shrub jojoba, which yields a useful wax. What goes around comes around—and jojoba is now much in demand for “natural” candles, and is also being used in cosmetics.
In New England, settlers who needed to survive those cold dark New England winters also became quite skilled at making their own candles. Native Americans taught them how to extract wax from bayberries, berries of the beach shrub Myrica carolinensis native to New England. This wax could be used to make candles. Today, bayberry candles are a rarity because of the expense of making them—it takes l½ quarts of bayberries to make a single 8-inch taper!
Pure bayberry candles are making a comeback both in home candlemaking and in the mail-order catalogs which sell old-fashioned products, such as the Vermont Country Store, and upscale mail-order catalogs such as Smith & Hawken.
Consider this quote when you think about the importance of candles to the settlers: “In the tropics the sun rises at six in the morning and sets at six in the evening and that’s that. There is very little twilight. As you go further north or south of the equator, the differential between winter and summer daylight hours increases until you reach those unfortunate latitudes where the sun never sets all summer or rises all winter. To spend a winter in such a place without [candle] light would surely drive you mad.”—The Forgotten Household Crafts, John Seymour
A Colonial housewife was a hard worker indeed. Her many chores included making candles for the family’s use from animal fat, which she collected diligently in pottery crocks all year long. When the time came to make candles, she rendered the often-rancid fat and made “taller tips” by repeatedly dipping wicks into the hot tallow and allowing it to cool between dips. This is the exact same method used today for dipped candles (except that we have the advantage of using wax, often sweetly scented, instead of the smoky, smelly tallow).
For a wonderful and well-written look at the various crafts practiced by the men of Colonial America, take a look at Colonial Craftsmen and the Beginnings of American Industry, written and illustrated by Edwin Tunis (World Publishing).
Some well-to-do households owned tin molds capable of casting a dozen candles simultaneously. This was an enormous advantage over the dip-and-cool method. The itinerant chandler included in his equipment large molds that could cast as many as six dozen candles. Though his presence was malodorous, he had the advantage of being able to cast a year’s supply of candles for a family in one operation. He strung the candles up with the tow-linen wick provided by the mistress, melted down the hard fat, and in the course of a day’s casting relieved the household of much onerous labor. A welcome offshoot of his work was the making of soap, which was the softer fat boiled with lye and then cooled.
Although chandlers were unwelcome as neighbors (for theirs was a greasy and stinky trade), they were vital to the well-being of their communities, especially as society became more complex and sophisticated than in the early colonial days. The importance of candlemaking in early American economy cannot be overemphasized, for it formed the basis of an entire industry, which grew as the society advanced and the population increased.
One of the more famous chandlers (thanks to his son) was Josiah Franklin, Benjamin Franklin’s father. Originally a dyer in England, Josiah switched to candlemaking, becoming a “tallow-chandler and sope-boiler” when he came to Boston, where his old trade did not pay well enough to support his family. Perhaps candlemaking was more lucrative because plainly dressed Bostonians disdained clothes of bright colors and had no need for dyers.
By the eighteenth century, the word “chandler” was in competition with the word “grocer” to indicate a shopkeeper. In those days, there were different types of chandlers—the terms “tallow chandler,” “wax chandler,” and “ship chandler” were in common use. Interestingly, the term “ship chandler” survives to this day, and refers to a retailer of specific goods. In the 1760s, a group of candlemakers—who did not make soap as did the less-respected tallow chandlers—chose to call themselves “candlers.” However, the term did not stick, and today it is used to designate a person who tests eggs (by holding the egg up to a candle flame and looking inside). Prior to 1750, wax chandlers made their finest candles from beeswax, or from bayberry wax.
Today’s cheap candles are made of paraffin, a petroleum byproduct discovered during the early years of the twentieth century. By then the cattle industry was in full development and tallow came from beeves rather than (as formerly) sheep or pigs. A bull butchered for meat provided enough fat to make twenty-six dozen candles. And when the entrepreneurial Yankee ship captains carried hides to the colonies for the shoemakers, they also brought along the fat from the animals.
Unlike today’s simple wax-melting procedure, the chandler of old didn’t merely melt the fat. He processed it by rendering it in boiling water. This allowed the fibrous material to rise to the surface, from where it was skimmed off, just as one skims scum from a pot of meat broth today. The vessels used were called “trying pots,” and the term “to try out” (meaning “to render fat”) is still used in some areas of the United States. These trying pots were made of copper, battered out by the local coppersmith. When making dipped candles, the chandler ladled the hot fat into another vat of rectangular shape for pre-cooling prior to dipping. This was because hot tallow left a thin layer on a dipped wick; worse, it could melt the earlier dipped layers. Conversely, if the tallow cooled too much it made lumpy layers. When that happened, a fire had to be built up under the pot to reheat the tallow, not an easy job.
Take 12 pounds lard, 1 pound saltpeter, 1 pound alum. Pulverize and mix the saltpeter and alum; dissolve the compound in a gill of boiling water; pour the compound into the lard before it is quite melted. Stir the whole until it boils, and skim off what rises. Let it simmer until the water is all boiled out, or until it ceases to throw off steam. Pour off the lard as soon as it is done, and clean the boiler while it is hot. If the candles are to be run in a mould, you may commence at once, but if to be dipped, let the lard cool first and cake. Then treat as you would tallow.*
American whaling ships often brought in cachalots, or sperm whales, and it was soon discovered that the fatty solid substance called “spermaceti” (erroneously thought to be the whale’s sperm, hence the term “spermaceti” and the name “sperm whale”) could be used to produce splendid candles. In fact, spermaceti was the best candle material known to that time. Candles made from it gave a brilliant light, burned evenly, and never dripped: a miracle! The reason they did not drip was because the flame burned without melting the wax into the usual liquid pool. So treasured were these candles that a candlemaker could sell them at extremely high prices—and therefore make a good profit, limited only by the supply of sperm oil he could garner. Since even in the poorest of times, there were always people with sufficient funds to afford such luxuries as the spermaceti candles, whaling became a lucrative trade.
* Nettie, Terre Haute, Indiana. The Home & Farm Manual, A Pictorial Encyclopedia of Farm, Garden, Household, Architectural, Legal, Medical, and Social Information. Jonathan Periam (Greenwich House).
By mid-century, chandlers were using all the spermaceti they could buy from the whalers, which made the whale one of the most fiercely hunted creatures on earth. As we now know, the whalers became so efficient—and the demand for their catch was so great—that once it was discovered that spermaceti made such splendid candles, the whale population was hunted nearly to extinction.
Spermaceti candles are the basis of the Standard International Candle unit of light intensity on which incandescent light bulbs were based when they were invented. A Standard International Candle unit is the intensity of light an incandescent bulb matches alongside the light from a 1/6 pound spermaceti candle burning at a rate of 120 grams per hour.
Ambergris, a fatty substance formed in the sperm whale’s intestinal tract, was the most precious material whale hunters sought. Prized by perfumers, it was found floating in the ocean when whales were in the area. Although in the fresh state it is black and has an unpleasant odor, after exposure to sun and sea and air, it is transformed to a pleasant-smelling mass, yellow or gray in color. One wonders who discovered its properties for use in fragrances!
Obediah Brown, of the entrepreneurial family of Rhode Island Browns, opened the first spermaceti candle works in 1753. That year alone his company made three hundred barrels of spermaceti candles. Brown and his brother Nicolas became the moving force behind the United Company of Spermaceti Candlers, which was responsible for parceling out the supply of spermaceti oil, which was limited despite the avaricious whaling industry’s most stringent efforts. And, they always got the biggest share. The association kept its trade secrets close to its vest—so closely guarded, in fact, that Nantucket, into whose ports came more whales than at Naragansett, only learned how to make the candles in 1772.
Pioneer candlemakers followed in the footsteps of the candlemaking techniques practiced during the Colonial era. In the pioneer states of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the women had brought their knowledge of candlemaking to the frontier. All suet and fat were conserved most carefully and candlemaking was an important and vital household chore. Every housewife made a supply of candles in the fall. Candle rods, each with a row of wicks attached, were repeatedly dipped into big iron kettles of boiling water and melted tallow. It was all-day, back-breaking, smelly, unpleasant “women’s work.” To make the wicks, women could either buy cotton twist, or use the silky down from milkweed pods.
Historical candlemaking
Later, the tallow was mixed with powdered gum camphor. Finer candles with scent were made with wax from the bayberry or wax myrtle. These inventive women even achieved decorative effects by layering wax dyed with the red juice of pokeberries, made green from wild nettles, or yellow from alder bark, as well as other natural dyestuffs.
How were wicks made?
The earliest settlers used wicks made of linen, spun from flax, which they grew. Or, if they had no other materials available, they used pith from plants. However, spun cotton made the most serviceable wicks.
Samuel Slater (1768–1835) was an industrialist born in Derbyshire, England. He was apprenticed to the partner of Richard Arkwright, who invented cotton-spinning machinery. Slater familiarized himself with Arkwright’s machines and those of James Hargreaves and Samuel Crompton before embarking for America in 1789. Once on these shores, he contracted with the firm of Almy & Brown of Providence, Rhode Island, to reproduce for them Arkwright’s cotton-spinning machinery. In 1793, Slater established a factory in Pawtucket, named Almy, Brown & Slater.
Samuel Slater is regarded as the founder of the American cotton industry. Thanks to him, cotton mills began to spin material for candlewicks and sold it rolled into balls. A young male apprentice cut lengths of about 20 inches on a sharp-bladed measuring cutter—much like the office paper cutter we know. The lengths intended for dipping were hung in sets of two over 3 feet–long rods, called “broaches,” that lay parallel on a wooden frame. Separated by a space of about three inches, the boy then twisted the two strands together. This required both skill and dexterity, for first the boy tightened the twist the spinner had made in the yarn and then had to twist the strands in the opposite direction, like a rope. Made that way, they would “hold their lay,” as was said of a well-made wick.
A professional dipper used a number of broaches (racks) at the same time. Suspending them over the tallow vat, he was able to dip all the wicks into the fat simultaneously and evenly. This process allowed him to, with a helper, dip and cool as many as 500 candles per day.
As the candles thickened with repeated dippings, they developed the irregular shape of a “taper.” When each candle had been dipped enough times to accumulate enough tallow to weigh approximately ¼ pound, the candles were removed from the broaches and packed in barrels. The loop of the wick remained, making pairs.
To set up wicks for molding, the apprentice performed the same doubling and twisting process as for wicks for dipping. But he also had to poke each wick through the mold’s top and draw it out the bottom where there was a small hole.
In the United States, candles remained the main light source until well after the Civil War. By the early nineteenth century, a new way of extracting a substance called “stearin” from animal fat was developed. When mixed with the fat, stearin produced a candle that smoked less and gave a clearer light. Almost simultaneously, snuffing (that is, the need to trim the wick of the burning candle regularly) became obsolete with the invention of braided wicks. These curled out of the flame as it consumed its fuel, eliminating the need to trim the wick as the candle burned.
Here is how a housewife recommends a vegetable-based substitute for stearin: Take the common prickly pear and boil or fry it in the tallow, without water, for half an hour, then strain and mould. I use about six average-size leaves to the pint of tallow (by weight 1 pound of leaves to 4 pounds of tallow), splitting them up fine. They make the tallow as hard as stearin, and do not injure its burning qualities in the least.
—Mrs. E.L.O., Waco, Texas. From The Home & Farm Manual
Most of the candles used in this country are made in Syracuse, New York, where the candlemaking industry was founded in 1855 by Francis X. Baumer. This German from Bavaria located his manufactory in Syracuse, and other Americans of German descent soon followed him. Using ingenious machinery, these now very large companies make about 3,500 different kinds of candles for a great variety of uses. They import mineral waxes from Utah, Germany, Poland, and Spain; carnauba wax comes from Brazil. China provides a wax created by insects feeding on trees.
They also make candles from bayberry wax. In Syracuse’s large Merchandise Mart, there are fascinating displays of candles in a stunning variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.
In the Chicago region, there are two small candle plants that make candles for religious purposes only. By canon law candles used in certain rituals of the Roman Catholic Church must contain not less than 51 percent beeswax; some must be 100 percent beeswax. Those for Greek Orthodox Churches are composed entirely of paraffin. One size is 3 inches in diameter and 6 feet tall!
Then came electricity, and candlemaking became an almost obsolete occupation, both for the professional wax chandler and the housewife (who no doubt gave thanks to be relieved of this harsh and unpleasant chore which was always “women’s work”).
However, the electricity we take for granted today, in almost every corner of the United States, wasn’t always available in rural areas, only in cities. It wasn’t until 1933 when the U.S. Congress created the Tennessee Valley Authority that rural areas in the South had a reliable supply of electricity, from hydroelectric plants that produced cheap power.
Today, of course, machines and factories produce most commercial candles, but even though handcrafting is largely a thing of the past—except for the hobbyist or craftsperson—the candlemaking process is pretty much the same as it was.
Domestic candle manufacturers have a long tradition of making high-quality, long-lasting, and safe candles. At this time, candlemaking is not regulated by law. However, the National Candle Association members are working with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to establish and implement voluntary standards for American-made candles.
Improved technology has allowed us to enjoy beautifully colored and heavenly scented candles, using new additives such as dyes and essential oils. Most modern candles are made of paraffin (with stearin added), but with our prosperous times there’s now a renewed demand for beeswax candles, which are undergoing a surge in popularity among those who can afford them.
No safety information is required on candle labeling. However, most U.S. candle manufacturers voluntarily place safety and use instructions on their candles. Wax sold for home candlemaking is labeled as to its content, i.e., paraffin, stearic acid, beeswax, etc.
The developments in the mass production of candles mean that today candles can be made or purchased in wide variety of sizes and shapes, and in a broad spectrum of colors. Choose from elegant tapers tinted every color of the rainbow and quite a few more besides, to match your fancy or your decorating scheme for a party, or scented mood-enhancing candles perfumed with essentials oils specific to many purposes, including healing. The home candlemaker can create these “intentional use” candles him- or herself, but they are also widely available at shops and mail-order catalogs that specialize in spiritual and/or healing products.
Candles are safe when burned properly and responsibly: They should always be attended; and kept out of the reach of children and pets, and away from drafts or flammable objects. Wicks should be kept trimmed. The flame should be extinguished properly. Finally, you should always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
With all of these candles readily available, one might imagine that the craft of handmade candles would be a thing of the past. Not so! Some designers still create beautiful and original hand-crafted candles for sale and, more importantly, many people are now choosing candlemaking as a rewarding hobby, often for its spiritual aspect.
Electricity has replaced candles as our main source of light—but they are still important to us (especially when the power fails!). We now use candles mostly for decoration on festive occasions, or to dress up our dinner table. We appreciate candles for the sense of calm they create, and we respond to candlelight in religious ceremonies. In today’s technology-driven world with its ever more hectic pace, candles bring us rest and respite by providing a general mood of warmth and relaxation—and enhancing romantic moments.