Comments on: Christine, the Chandler http://countrylife.lehmans.com/2008/11/20/chandler/ Your online simplicity village Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:07:56 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Sage Blackthorn http://countrylife.lehmans.com/2008/11/20/chandler/comment-page-1/#comment-957 Sage Blackthorn Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:57:43 +0000 http://countrylife.lehmans.com/?p=1167#comment-957 This reminds me of when we use to carry candle-making supplies where I work. For many years we had people coming to us to buy wax, wick, essential oils, perfume concentrates, wax coloring, molds, how-to books. Then all the sudden they stopped buying stuff for making candles, so the store stopped carrying the supplies. I was really disappointed with the local community, it seemed like no one enjoyed making things for themselves anymore. We use to have great fun making candles by rolling sheets of beeswax around candle wicks. We'd give classes on how to make candles, among other things, and people would come to learn and socialize. Those were the good ol' days, but now the interest seems to have dried up. I'm glad to see that someone is still making candles the old-fashioned way. Beyond creating a useful and beautiful product to sell, skills like that of the Chandler need to be preserved in an increasingly automated and mechanized world. There is a real charm to something handmade that you just can't get from a mass produced product. And yet it's really difficult to get away from mass produced products made in foreign countries. Everywhere you go, you see candles with a Made In China, or Made In Taiwan, or "Hecho En Mexico" sticker on them. Now I've been selling candles and other things where I work for going on 14 years now. And I can tell you that nothing beats a good handmade candle. We have no end of problems with mass produced candles from big factories. Sometimes we get candles with no wick in them, which is basicly a giant crayon. Other times we get candles in glass containers that come in with the glass broken in the box, I guess production lines aren't to gentle on the product. Not only does the handmade candle have the potential to be of higher quality, but when you think about it in terms of breakage, recycling, packaging, handling, and having to ship defective product back to the manufacturer, it's more efficient to invest in the work of a local artisan who handles their product more carefully than a minimum wage factory worker who's only goal is to collect a paycheck from their boss at the end of the day. I really, really wish that more people would take the time to hand-make the things they use themselves. But I know that is increasingly difficult in todays faced-paced, modern world. So barring that, I really wish more people would buy handmade items from local artisans. And I really wish local artisans, supported by their local communities, would buy their supplies from local businesses who buy their stock from local materials producers. Everyone supports each other, everyone makes a living, and you build a stronger community. And knowing how difficult that is, I really wish people would at least go back to buying domestic products that may cost a little more, but are worth it because they are of better quality instead of buying cheap crap made in China, Taiwan, Mexico, or India that falls apart two weeks after you get it or comes in broken and you have to send it back for a replacement. I think if yer gonna by something made overseas, it should be because it's the highest quality you can find and because no one domesticly is producing it. Not because it's the least expensive item on the market (which is usually cheap crap, you get what you pay for). This reminds me of when we use to carry candle-making supplies where I work. For many years we had people coming to us to buy wax, wick, essential oils, perfume concentrates, wax coloring, molds, how-to books. Then all the sudden they stopped buying stuff for making candles, so the store stopped carrying the supplies. I was really disappointed with the local community, it seemed like no one enjoyed making things for themselves anymore. We use to have great fun making candles by rolling sheets of beeswax around candle wicks. We’d give classes on how to make candles, among other things, and people would come to learn and socialize. Those were the good ol’ days, but now the interest seems to have dried up.

I’m glad to see that someone is still making candles the old-fashioned way. Beyond creating a useful and beautiful product to sell, skills like that of the Chandler need to be preserved in an increasingly automated and mechanized world. There is a real charm to something handmade that you just can’t get from a mass produced product. And yet it’s really difficult to get away from mass produced products made in foreign countries. Everywhere you go, you see candles with a Made In China, or Made In Taiwan, or “Hecho En Mexico” sticker on them. Now I’ve been selling candles and other things where I work for going on 14 years now. And I can tell you that nothing beats a good handmade candle. We have no end of problems with mass produced candles from big factories. Sometimes we get candles with no wick in them, which is basicly a giant crayon. Other times we get candles in glass containers that come in with the glass broken in the box, I guess production lines aren’t to gentle on the product.

Not only does the handmade candle have the potential to be of higher quality, but when you think about it in terms of breakage, recycling, packaging, handling, and having to ship defective product back to the manufacturer, it’s more efficient to invest in the work of a local artisan who handles their product more carefully than a minimum wage factory worker who’s only goal is to collect a paycheck from their boss at the end of the day.

I really, really wish that more people would take the time to hand-make the things they use themselves. But I know that is increasingly difficult in todays faced-paced, modern world. So barring that, I really wish more people would buy handmade items from local artisans. And I really wish local artisans, supported by their local communities, would buy their supplies from local businesses who buy their stock from local materials producers. Everyone supports each other, everyone makes a living, and you build a stronger community. And knowing how difficult that is, I really wish people would at least go back to buying domestic products that may cost a little more, but are worth it because they are of better quality instead of buying cheap crap made in China, Taiwan, Mexico, or India that falls apart two weeks after you get it or comes in broken and you have to send it back for a replacement. I think if yer gonna by something made overseas, it should be because it’s the highest quality you can find and because no one domesticly is producing it. Not because it’s the least expensive item on the market (which is usually cheap crap, you get what you pay for).

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