New Collaboration With Candle Makers, Bilo Life
I first met Rebecca and Vikki when we were both trading at a Christmas Fair a couple of years and have stayed in touch since through buying from each others small businesses.
When I smelt how amazing their candles were and learnt of how talented they both are in developing the scents and making the candles, I got in touch to ask if we could collaborate.
We’ve created three different candles; each candle is handmade by Rebecca and Vicki and finished with a signature 20 Seventh Letter print.
The candle making process...
“We use a sustainable wax blend of rapeseed and coconut wax. This is cut from a big block, weighed and melted (we used to use pans, just like in the photo - we now use something a little bigger but not that much bigger, but same concept).
When the wax is melted we leave it to cool to a particular temperature which is ideal for scenting. If the temperature is too high then there is a danger the oils are destroyed. We have experimented to find the perfect temperature point to scent the wax.
Our fragrance combinations are unique to the Bilo brand. We spend months developing, experimenting and testing new scents. Each blend contains at least one essential oil. We have to research what scent combinations work and compliment each other, adhere to the IFRA guidelines and reference the safety data sheets. Once we are happy a fragrance works we will then appoint our consultant to produce the CLP labels we need to enable us to sell the product. This is a time consuming and costly process, but we are passionate about scent and we want to create something unique for our customers and clients. We measure out and mix the essential and fragrance oils prior to each pour we do.
The testing and experimenting doesn’t just stop at the fragrance development - we have to test the wicks to make sure they work with the fragrance load, wax and container. The wax in Bilo candles must pool all the way to the edge of the container on each burn - this ensures an even burn and prevents tunnelling. It is therefore important we select the correct wick for the correct container and fragrance. There is a lot of science that goes into candle making!
We regularly test each batch of candles that we make to ensure we produce the best quality candles. Any that fail to meet our high standards are not sold.”
Rebecca and Vikki, Bilo Life