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Floral scented handmade Soy Candles

New Product Alert! 🚨 ‘An English Garden’ 💐 Handmade Soy Candles

At last, after many months of development. I have finally launched the most beautifully scented soy candles you are gonna have a whiff of this year. Inspired by ‘The English Garden’ theme for my pop-up event in Studio Nine on Totnes high-street. These vegan soy candles are a Collection of floral and fruity goodness each in an individual handmade, wheel-thrown and piped pot.

Firstly, I threw these adorable little vase vessels on the potter’s wheel with hand-piped decoration adorning each one. Then, they are glazed in a lovely, smooth, satin white glaze and an array of colourful oh-so-glossy glazes. Before they are each hand-poured with high-quality fragranced soy candle wax. Also each handmade candle is protected with a handmade (from recycled paper) dust cover.

ceramic handmade Soy candles fresh fruity and floral fragrances in shop on table
Introduction of Soy candles at Studio Nine Pop Up Event | June 2022
Style 1 – Piped Spots
Style 2 – Piped Ribbon

Finally, once you have melted your candle to the bottom, just remove the remaining candle wick and wipe the inside with some kitchen roll or tissue. Then you have a stunning mini vase for tiny bouquets or maybe a pen pot for the office.

Priced at an Exclusive introductory price of only ÂŁ22.

The 10 Scents:

Rhubarb & Blackberry

A delicious fruity blend, this is perfect for those with a sweet tooth but who also want a bit of sharpness. Rhubarb and blackberry with a hint of vanilla. This smells like the world’s best crumble.

delicious pie with rhubarb
bowl of blackberries

top notes: fruity, rhubarb, apple, red berries

heart notes: rhubarb, strawberry

base notes: sweet, creamy, vanilla, custard

Plum, Rose & Patchouli

This one is beautifully fruit, floral and a little bit earthy. It also has a little bit of sweetness from the tonka bean, plum and vanilla; and citrus from the orange and bergamot.

high angle view of fruit bowl of plums on table
selective focus photography of pink rose flowers

Top Notes: Plum, Cassis, Rose, Bergamot, Orange

Heart Notes: Black Cherry, Prune, Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg

Base Notes: Patchouli, Vanilla, Tonka Bean, sweet, Musk

Sweet Pea

This beautiful strictly floral scent, if you’re not familiar, with this gardener’s favourite is similar to orange blossom and hyacinth, with a hint of rose.

blooming sweet pea bouquet in vase with water

Top Notes: sweet pea, rose, hyacinth, jasmine

Base Notes: woods and vanilla

Pear & Freesia

If I had to have a favourite (but lets be honest – they all are my fave!), it would be this one. Sweet, citrus, woody, floral – this fragranced soya candle has it all and perfectly balanced to radiate throughout your home. You’re welcome.

close up photo of bunch of pears
freesia flowers in a vase

Top Notes: bergamot, lemon and pear

Heart Notes: magnolia, orchid, rose, Muguet

Base Notes: musk, amber, patchouli

Peony & Suede

A charming scent of  exquisite peonies in voluptuous bloom. Flirtatious and seductive, with the juicy bite of red apple and the opulence of jasmine, rose, and carnation. All mingling to become sensually soft like blush suede.

close up of pink peony flowers

Top notes: peony, red apple, aqueous

Heart notes: rose, jasmine, carnation

Base notes: violet, plum, musks, patchouli, dry amber

Vanilla

The classic! Sweet Vanilla but with notes of nutty spicy nutmeg; hints of florals and hint of woodsy musk.

vanilla bottle for baking

Top notes: Madagascan vanilla pod, nutmeg

Heart Notes: florals

Base Notes: nuts, woods, musk

Raspberry & Peppercorn

This handmade soya candle holds the sharp and spicy scent of peppercorn; and the sweet and tartness of raspberries makes this lovely combination for this fragrance. Both woodsy, sweet and floral this is a great choice for the home.

healthy red fruits raspberries sweet
small heap of pepper on white surface

Top Notes: Raspberry, Black Pepper, Pink Pepper, Rose

Heart Notes: Whiteflowers, Jasmine, Vetivert

Base Notes: Musk, Amber

Blackberry & Bay

Both fruity and musky from the blackberry and herbal notes from the bay similar in scent to oregano or thyme. Also come in the beautiful floral notes from rose, geranium and muguet. This is a lovely strong but balanced fragrance.

bowl of blackberries
lush bay leaves of evergreen laurus nobilis tree growing in garden

Top notes: blackberry leaves and blackcurrant buds

Heart notes: rose, geranium, muguet and bay

Base notes: musk, sandalwood

Sea Salt & Driftwood

Something a bit different here and a definite favourite for myself and many others. A floral marine scent from refreshing notes of seaweed and green algae livened by a fresh coastal breeze and enhanced by touches of cyclamen and water lily. At the base of the fragrance, sparkling salt crusted driftwood is warmed by amber, patchouli and musk.

photo of seashells on driftwood
macro photography of crystal salt

Top Notes: Ozone, Seaweed

Heart Notes: Cyclamen, Waterlily

Base Notes: Driftwood, Amber, Patchouli, Musk

Lavender, Chamomile & Vanilla

This handmade soya candle holds a sensual and calming blend of french lavender, chamomile and lavender. This scent is great to burn for a calming setting, with floral notes of lavender, lilac, chamomile; fruity from coconut and peach and woodsy scent from cedarwood.

purple petal flowers lavender focus photograph
closeup photo of white daisy chamomile flowers
vanilla bottle baking

top notes: coconut, peach

heart notes: lavender, lilac, chamomile

base notes: cedarwood, vanilla

Remember to follow safety instructions labelled on the bottom of each one of the handmade soy candles.

Buy Here

By Christina Goodall

www.christinagoodallceramics.com

Find out more

Follow me on Instagram at Christina Goodall Ceramics and Margo Margo Jewellery to see the process of making my ceramics.

Also Christina’s handmade stoneware pottery made on the potters wheel is available to browse on this site. Read here for more information on how Christina Goodall Ceramics pottery is made.

Christina makes all her ceramics in small batches from her studio in Torquay, Devon. Unlike mass-produced ceramics, Christina’s handmade pottery is unique in its design and production.  She has a degree in Fine Art Sculpture from UAL which led her into ceramics. Christina then moved back to her hometown and began her business by assisting in pottery studios, teaching pottery workshops and producing her own ceramics.

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55 Things I learnt in the first year of my small Creative business

Here are 55 things I experienced during the first year of my creative business. Some I’m still regularly feeling.

1. It takes a lot longer than you thought

2. It will be a lot harder than you thought. You will think about giving up on several occasions

3. It will be a lot more frustrating than you thought. You will want to pull your hair out on several occasions

4. But it will also be a lot more satisfying than you ever thought

5. Every hour you are awake you will be thinking about your business in some way. It will probably keep you up at night too

6. You will be on your phone nearly as much as you will be at your desk working

7. You will spend hours and hours soaking up all that business advice from blogs and podcasts

8. Pricing your products is hard. “time spent making these+materials+etsy 5%+free delivery+packaging+electric+100% profit=?????”

9. You also know your product is valuable but you desperately want those sales so you underprice them

10. You will have to learn so much about branding, social media marketing, photography, photo editing, consumer rights, book-keeping, cookies, website design, blogging, SEO. The list goes on and on

11. Instagram is way harder than you thought, posting an interesting photo each day suddenly seems impossible

12. You have to spend money to make money. Unfortunately

13. So your other job (that is probably paying minimal wage) will keep you financially afloat. Just

14. That first sale (that isn’t from someone you’re related to) will feel soooo good

15. Adulting and running a business in general is hard. You’re tired constantly

16. You don’t have a weekend anymore

17. Early mornings become your norm now

18. But also entire days in your pyjamas with your laptop are acceptable too

19. Although Netflix is your new best friend so it’s kind of okay

20. Finishing a blog post twice a month is a lot harder than you first thought

21. But apparently blogging is essential to get traffic to your website so you continue to try (and fail)

22. Everything will feel overwhelming sometimes

23. So it’s good to ask for help

24. And then you read a business book for dummies and everything suddenly seems so simple

25. Sometimes you surprise yourself at how good you are at your job

26. Then the self doubt sets it

27. But then someone comments how much they like you’re new product on Instagram and you’re fine again

28. You get embarrassed when your new favourite product doesn’t get many likes on insta

29. But when one of your favourite accounts likes one of your photos you’re over the moon. You must be doing something right!

30. You will no longer have a social life. “I can’t go out tonight, I’m working”

31. Social media is not a social life

32. Treating yourself is a good idea

33. Because Self-care is important

34. Life puts barriers in our way. Including the whole of 2020

35. Christmas is your key selling opportunity

36. You thought you were busy before. You learn the true definition of ‘busy’ now

37. And you don’t sell all your Christmas stock so you just give it as gifts to your family instead

38. But then January comes and you have to get your books finished

39. Creating a website is way more complicated then you thought and way more expensive

40. Hardly anyone will be looking at your website for a long time how ever much you write about it on your facebook business page

41. You realise Google is all-powerful. You do everything you can think of to please it. Bow down to it’s omnipotence

42. Oh and once you put your phone number out there on the world wide web you will start getting constant scam calls asking if you’ve been in a car accident

43. You resent buying supplies on amazon (making Jeff Bezos even richer) but also they have so much choice you can’t resist

44. Procrastinating on Pinterest making boards of your dream bedroom decor or the perfect vegan brownie recipe is not working

45. But spending hours procrastinating on Pinterest looking at other maker’s work is kind of working, right?

46. Multitasking is key. You will have many fingers in many pies

47. Great Customer service is also key

48. Packing an order really well and writing “please please please be careful with this” on the parcel in bold capital letters still doesn’t mean the parcel will end up in one piece to your customer

49. Getting your product to the top of your niche Etsy search will feel good

50. Waiting for someone to buy it won’t

51. When it does sell, you will probably do a little happy dance

52. When you get that first 5 star review you just want to bow down and kiss their feet

53. But even after you send your lovely handmade product off swiftly and beautifully packaged, getting a ‘meh’ 3 star review will feel awfully personal

54. If you’re £3.28 in profit at the end of the month you’re overjoyed. At least you paid your bills. Who cares about paying yourself a wage?

55. Basically starting a business is way harder than you ever thought but also so rewarding at the same time. It’s basically the best thing you’ve ever done

Thank you so much for getting this far!

How many of these do you relate to as a small business??? Let me know and we can laugh/cry together.

Many thanks for reading!

By Christina Goodall

www.christinagoodallceramics.com

www.facebook.com/christinagoodallceramics

www.instagram.com/christinagoodallceramics

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12 IKEA Products for Pottery

Here are 12 of my favourite Ikea products that I use in my pottery studio. If you are an amateur home ceramicist or a fully fledged studio potter, these Ikea products are going to come in handy to ease your pottery making. Here I share my favourite Ikea hacks from storage ideas to tools for making and glazing.

1. SORTERA Waste sorting bins ÂŁ9 for 60l and ÂŁ6 for 37l

ikea waste sorting bins pottery clay bins

These Plastic bins are great for storing scrap clay yet to be recycled. For a larger scale pottery they are the perfect option to store glaze materials as well. These are also stackable so they will help save floorspace in your studio which is essential for every ceramics studio.

2. SAMLA Insert for Box ÂŁ3

insert box handy pottery tools storage

This handled box is great for tool storage to store and then bring with you to your pottery class or move around with you in your studio. I have separate ones labelled for throwing, trimming and glazing which makes life easy when you manage to have hundreds of little tools for every and any job in the studio. And the cherry on the top is that they easily wiped clean. Happy days!

3. SOCKERBIT Storage box with lid ÂŁ12

ikea storage box for clay storage

These under-bed storage boxes are great for the studio. They are great to slowly dry out your greenware pottery to minimise cracks and warping in the kiln later on. Store them under shelving or desks and just forget about them until your pottery is ready to bring out to bisque fire.

Otherwise they are perfect for storing balled up clay ready for throwing the next day.

4. HEJNE Softwood shelving 3 sections/shelves ÂŁ88

ikea softwood shelving for pottery studio storage

This is the shelving I use in my studio and I absolutely bloody love it! Sturdy, easy to assemble and you can continue to add on the sides. You also decide how many shelves you insert and the height of each shelf. Think about how tall your work tends to be when thrown when deciding the number of shelves. Fairly wide at 50cm, these are ideal to use to store freshly thrown work and store bisque work as well. I recommend buying the plastic feet to go on the bottom to keep from water damage in often damp pottery studios.

5. HYLLIS Shelving unit with cover ÂŁ13

ikea shelving unit for drying pottery

These garden units are great for storing greenware to slowing dry out. I use them all the time as my pottery that I apply piped clay onto needs extra time for the water content to balance out so these units are great to dry them out slowly. They help reduce cracks and warping also in the bisque kiln. The shelves are quite tall for my work but I tend to stack the clay pieces so this is fine. The cover is essential to keep moisture in at a small cost.

6. RÅSKOG Trolley £39

ikea trolley for storing pottery tools

These are great to store your many, many tools and keep by you when you are working on your clay work. Wheel around your studio between your wheel and your work bench/desk to keep it easy.

7. VARIERA Plastic bag dispenser ÂŁ1.50

plastic bag storage for storage handy plastic bags in pottery studio

These are a life-saver in the studio. I store all of my plastic bags in here to wrap work up at the end of each work day. I need about 3 more of these to store all my different sized plastic bags. And at ÂŁ1.50 they are a bloody bargain!

8. MAGASIN Rolling pin ÂŁ3.50

ikea rolling pin

Cheap and cheerful rolling pin for slab work. I find that these rolling pins with this kind of handle design where the barrel moves independently from the handles are much more useful compared to the traditional rolling pins that are made from one single piece of wood. I find you can get more pressure and an even slab with this design and ultimately you can roll out clay better.

9. GUBBRÖRA Rubber spatula £1

ikea spatula

I use these when making glazes. I can stir the glaze ingredients in with the water and then get every bit out when sieving the new glaze with the rubbery end. An essential when making glazes. I have 3!

10. FULLÄNDAD Ladle £0.75

ikea ladle

I use this ladle to glaze taller pieces that I can’t dip. I ladle in glaze to coat the inside then tip out glaze. Then hold the piece upside down with glazing tongs and using the ladle pour the glaze over the outside of the piece and back into the bucket.

11. BEVARA sealing clips set of 30 ÂŁ1.50

ikea sealing clips

I keep a lot of my glaze material in the original plastic bags they come in. Once I cut the cable ties off, I use these sealing clips to enclose the materials in the bag. Which is perfect at keeping the bags sealed and reducing dust in your studio.

12. ANTAGEN dish-washing brush ÂŁ0.50

ikea dishwashing brush

These dish-washing brushes are great for glaze stirring. If you have a stubborn glaze that collects heavy at the bottom of your bucket try these brushes to stir and break up the glaze at the bottom. A handy addition!

By Christina Goodall

Read my other blog posts here.

www.christinagoodallceramics.com

www.facebook.com/christinagoodallceramics

www.instagram.com/christinagoodallceramics

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Pottery Pop-Up

My handmade pottery is on display in the pop-up window of Studio Nine in Totnes this week. A very exciting opportunity! From the 5th to the 10th April, I have the whole window to myself to display my handcrafted work, old and new, in all its colourful glory. So, if you’re a Totnes local – feel free to have a browse!

All the pottery shown is hand-thrown on the wheel by me from my studio in Torquay. And piped with wet clay using cake decorating techniques. The pottery is bisque fired, hand-painted with pottery stains and underglazes, waxed and readied for glazing. Finally, the ceramics are finished off by glazing in satin glazes, with a food safe clear glaze inside and glaze fired.

The work is displayed in 4 colour blocks – pink, peach, green and blue; as I thought this would look more cohesive. There is a mixture of products from candlesticks and candle holders, to Vases, to mugs and a teapot, to ring holders and jewellery jars.

The majority of the work is in my piped style; some with piped bows; frilly star shapes; climbing vines and leaves; shells and dots. Some pieces including mugs, vases and teapots have piped feet in the the style of claw feet (popular during the English Renaissance and forward) which raises them slightly.

Available work is (L to R): Green Heart Cut out Pillar Candle holder, Green piped basket, Piped Vines and leaves donut wall vase, (back) Green vase with piped rim, Green twisted handle piped feet mug, Green water fountain jewellery holder, (back) green tall footed dish with piped vines and leaves, green 3-piece piped incense oil burner, green piped tea-light holder, green piped top lidded jewellery jar, green vase with piped trellis vines and leaves,

(back) blue piped candlestick, blue twisted handle piped feet mug, blue piped ring holder, blue piped tea-light holder, blue piped tall footed dish, blue piped donut taper candle holder (holds 4), blue etched vase, (front) blue piped top lidded jewellery jar, blue berry bowl, blue piped vase with etched hearts and piped feet, blue piped rim vase, blue twisted handle piped feet mug

Available work is (L to R): pink tall vase with piped feet, pink twisted handle piped feet mug, pink piped top lidded jar, pink 3-piece piped incense oil burner, pink dumpy piped vase, pink tall vase/planter(with bulb plant), (back) pink piped vase, (front) pink piped donut wall vase, pink twisted handle piped feet mug, pink piped lidded frog vase, (back) pink vase with piped feet, (front) pink piped top lidded jewellery jar,

peach piped basket, peach piped bows and hearts pot, (back) peach vase with piped feet, (front) peach piped tea-light holder, peach twisted handle piped feet mug, peach piped ring holder, (back) peach piped frog vase, peach 3-piece piped incense oil burner, (front) peach piped dumpy teapot with twisted handle, (front) peach piped bow top lidded jewellery jar, peach piped incense plate, (back) peach piped rim vase

There have been some stunning displays of varying mediums and disciplines in this pop-up space. If you’re a local maker interested in displaying your work in Totnes, I would highly recommend following Studio Nine to see previous displays and details on future opportunities. It is a lovely space to showcase your wares from; and Lucie is lovely and very easy to work with!

If you’re interested in buying any of the pieces displayed please contact me here with details of which piece you would like to buy.

Comment and let me know what you think!

Many thanks for reading!

By Christina Goodall

Visit my Website – www.christinagoodallceramics.com

Visit my Facebook – www.facebook.com/christinagoodallceramics

Follow me on Instagram – www.instagram.com/christinagoodallceramics

Browse my Porcelain Jewellery for sale – www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MargoMargoJewellery