Candles for a Lifetime

View of Fellowship Farm from the Bus

Another great thing about being a Baby Boomer already out of the working world is that there is leisure for excursions. My sister-in-law Carol and I took a Senior Center day trip out across the eastern plains to a homestead near Bennett, Colorado, for a display of candle carving. The drive out across the plains on the country roads brought to mind my years in Akron, Colorado. The wheat and hay are in the fields waiting for harvest. One of the country roads had the pavement washed out, and the tour bus crept behind a road grader trying to even out the ruts in the gravel.

Hot Wax

The folks who run this little family business, Lifetime Candles, dip the candles and carve them, while jollying along the group of seniors who have gathered round, mostly little old ladies with three little old men who appeared to have been dragged along. Several busloads of little old ladies arrive each week, often the Red Hat ladies.

The couple who runs the place, with the help of a sister and mother, decided to name their business Lifetime Candles because the candles run on lamp oil, and hence do not self-destruct as a standard wax candle does. My mother used to buy carved candles, beautiful, but she would never burn them. These candles are made with a mold inside to hold the lamp oil and wick, and they shine out from deep into the candle.

During the demonstration we enjoyed shouting out the colors in which the sample candle should be dipped, with white as the outside color, then dipped into a glaze for shine and color retention. There are several styles for carving and finishing the candles. The hot wax may be manipulated into a basket weave, an angel pattern, another they call the bow tie. The carving has to be completed while the wax is still warm.

They make candles in which multiple carved pieces are fused, such as their Madonna prayer candle. They do candles with embedded football helmets in team colors, a few Mickey Mouse candles, and a moose or two. Their lighthouse candles were popular with our group.What I liked especially about the light houses was that the excess drippings, called the candle's beard, are manipulated to resemble crashing waves. And of course, they do a good business in wedding candles, either all white or with the bride's colors. I'm guessing they have a special line of Christmas goodies which were not on display in July.

The artisan family was extremely hospitable, serving us coffee, tea and sodas, and our choice of strawberry shortcake or blackberry cobbler. The berries are grown on their farm. Can't remember when I've had such tasty cobbler.

The excitement of the day was the drawing for the sample candle and the frenzy of buying inventory off the shelves, half-priced and a free one if you bought two. A number of women put down money for custom orders in their preferred colors. As a personal treat I bought myself a lovely purple and white Lifetime Candle, and, I confess, Carol and I did some finagling to get our free candles. We came home happy campers.