To make number candles, wicks are placed in the molds, hot wax is poured in, and the cooled candles are popped out, all by hand.īig Dipper uses their own unique silicone molds for specialty shapes. “That’s how we run the business, and it’s worked well for us.” “We work with what nature gives us,” said Flower. Extreme care and a steady hand are required, to avoid drips, pour and dip to exactly the right level, make sure wicks are straight, and get all the details right.Īll of Big Dipper’s aromatic candles are scented with essential oils. Almost every step of their candlemaking process is done by hand: Pouring melted wax into molds, placing wicks, smoothing and flattening the bottoms, dipping tapers. More than that, Flower said, Big Dipper candles are “a true luxury product” that they’ve been able to bring to a wider audience. “Thank goodness for the late 90s, otherwise we’d still be down at Pike Place Market.” For Flower and Brent, “it’s really been about making natural products that are affordable for everyone.” “Prior to 1993, it was very difficult to find natural beeswax candles,” said Flower. She started working for Big Dipper 17 years ago, during a major boom in support for natural products.
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Flower was a friend of Brent’s, who showed her how to make candles. To help sustain bees yourself, Flower recommends buying local honey and beeswax products, and growing bee-friendly plants in your yard, steering clear of any that have been treated with pesticides (even plants labeled “bee-friendly”).īig Dipper Wax Works got its start in 1993, founder and co-owner Brent Roose began making beeswax candles in his garage. From Uganda to El Salvador, Ghana to Poland, the hives not only provide food and income from the sale of honey, beeswax, and pollen, they can as much as double a farmer’s crop production. And they donate to Heifer International to purchase beehives for struggling families. Each year, Big Dipper also supports organizations doing the most research and education into colony collapse disorder. To support bees, Big Dipper sponsors Seattle Tilth, and together they give away seed packets of bee-friendly plants, available at both Seattle Tilth annual Edible Plant Sales. Big Dipper gets most of their wax from Canada.īesides providing wonderful wax and honey, bees are a crucial keystone species keeping ecosystems intact but they’re threatened, with numbers declining worldwide. Origin of the wax, clockwise from top: Canada, India, Oregon, Nicaragua. Holding up the small block pictured below, Flower explained that it was about a pound of beeswax: A season’s hard work for an entire hive, maybe 40,000 to 60,000 bees, along with about 70 pounds of honey. I was surprised that each had its own unique fragrance-one offered notes of cinnamon and spice, and another was distinctly floral, like clover. Big Dipper uses pure beeswax in all of their products.įlower passed around four big hunks of beeswax.
Other candle wax is often hydrogenated, hardened, bleached, and petroleum-based. “I like to call beeswax the Mercedes of candle waxes,” Flower told us, because it melts easily, burns longer than other waxes, emits negative ions, and is naturally aromatic. So on a rainy February morning, we met at the Big Dipper factory in Georgetown.įlower started with an introduction to raw wax. That's because almost all Big Dipper candles are made by hand.īig Dipper's manager, Flower, had generously agreed to host a tour for Co-op owners, a rare opportunity at this busy shop. It took me a few minutes to realize there isn’t any machinery noise in this factory. Most have a little tealight burning at their workstation. The room is filled with vats of melted wax, cooling candles, and candlemakers busy at work tables. We toured the Big Dipper Wax Works factory, and it was amazingīy Nell Abercrombie, Central Co-op Online Communications & Eventsįrom the moment you step inside the door of the Big Dipper Wax Works factory, you’re enveloped in a warm, delicious cloud of honey aroma.
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