Candle Making with Handmade Habitat

In late June, Handmade Habitat, a local brand based in the DMV, hosted a candle making event, and it was nothing short of breathtaking. The founder, Amina Ahmad grew up in Maryland, and studied Environmental Studies and Policy at the University of Maryland (go Terps!)  As a college student, she realized some of the toxic effects that traditional candles can have on our environment, home and bodies. So she began making her own DIY candles in her dorm room and out of that experience, Handmade Habitat was born! And as if this wasn't impressive enough, she is also a yoga instructor and created Mantra candles and corresponding perfume oils (swoon)! Handmade Habitat's products (which includes candles, roll-on perfumes, bath salts etc. can be purchased online and in various shops around town. In addition, on a fairly regular basis, she hosts monthly candle making workshops/events.

What makes these candles safe (and awesome)?
Handmade Habitat's candles are soy-based.  Soy wax burns cleaner and longer than traditional wax. All of the soy wax candles come from USA produced soy beans. The scents come from essential oils, organic essential oils and/or all natural fragrance oils. Also, the candle jars/tins can be re-used! You receive a $2 credit for every Handmade container you return!

How was the candle-making experience?
AMAZING! I was feeling a little under the weather after just returning to town after a work trip. But this experience made my entire week!  We met at the Off the Beaten Track Warehouse in NE DC, which is where Handmade Habitat is based.  After we introduced ourselves and Amina shared a bit of information about the brand, we began first by smelling the three fragrance/essential oils we were working with that day (Cedarwood, Lavender, and Lemon.) We used little strips of paper to dip into each scent to figure out which ones we liked and how we might want to combine them. (I decided to make a lemon/lavender candle and a lemon/cedarwood candle, [heavy on the lemon.]) Immediately thereafter, we began pouring the oils into a tiny glass container. We placed the wick into the center of the jars and then we poured roughly 12oz of wax into each candle jar. After that, we mixed in our oil blends  into the wax and stirred. We then used the extra wax that we had to make tiny tea lights (so precious!)

While our candles cooled, we made sage bundles and palo santo bundles (mixed with eucalyptus.) I've heard a lot about sage and palo santo but have never used them so I was super excited. The palo santo scent is simply breathtaking. Palo Santo trees can be found in South America and it is used for its energetically cleansing and healing properties. Palo Santo can increase your creativity and is also excellent for calming the immune and nervous systems to lead to faster recovery from illness (sign me up!) It has other healing properties and can help address a variety of issues ranging from anxiety, depression, headaches, stress, asthma etc.  (As an aside, I've been getting headaches fairly regularly ranging so I need all the help I can get.) Sage is a woody herb that is closely related to rosemary. Sage can be used to cleanse a person, room or space. During this time, Amina also provided various labels, markers, and stamps that we could use to decorate our candle jars.

As our candles began to cool, the color of the candle shifted from yellow to cream. As this happened, Amina offered us the opportunity to add botanicals (rose petals, lavender buds, or chamomille to the top of the candles.) I used the lavender buds and rose petals and they were so pretty. These botanicals also can impact the scent ever so slightly (in a wonderful way).

Would I attend this event again?
YES, YES AND YES. She usually hosts these workshops and related events fairly regularly. She is taking a brief hiatus in July/August and will likely resume in September. (Don't worry though, if you are dying to try products from Handmade Botanicals in the interim, you can still order them!)

Which products are my favorites from Handmade Habitat?
Clear Mind and Soothe the Soul roll-on perfume oils in addition to the corresponding Mantra candles (with the same name.)

I hope this information is helpful to you in your journey to find safer products!

                                                                                                                   -Rachel