Hallowell - If you have an idea for an upcoming "Take This Job and Love It" email Chelsey at canderson@wabi.tv


The holidays are here. Homes are filled with smells of fresh cookies, pies and balsam firs. In this "Take This Job and Love it" Chelsey Anderson headed to Colley Hill Soy Candle Company in Hallowell where they are busy creating soy candles with your favorite fragrance for your holiday order.

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Tonya, Colley Hill Candles- "We are today pouring some fall fragrances. And i've already poured this in so we're waiting for it to cool off."

Tonya- "So we'll be setting up the jars, putting the wicks in, getting ready for fragrance and we'll pour fragrance in, stir it up and pour the candles."

Chelsey-"So we're going to set out our jars first?" Tonya- "Yes."

Tonya and I set out at least 12 jars for each fragrance.

Tonya- "So right now what we are going to do is put the wicks in. So I put a pile of wicks over there for you and here's some wick stickers and you just try and center them."

Now, this took me a long time, and I was worried it may be my demise.

Chelsey- "So far, so good?"

Tonya- "I haven't heard any glass break or anything so you're doing good."

Tonya- "Ok. So the wick bars now we have to put those on."

Tonya- "And that set keeps the wick centered so it pours nice and straight. So you can just grab a handful of those and start on that end. So you press down on the wick and then just slide it through."

Chelsey- "Is that right?" Tonya- "Yeah, that's right. Perfect."

Chelsey- "I'm not very good at this part." Tonya- "Well this is the part I didn't like when I first started making candles."

Tonya- "It's so close to pouring that's what I like about it now."

While we continued to wait for the soy wax base to set up, I decided to sniff around.

Tonya- "This is our best selling fragrance for 7 years." Chelsey- "Oh my gosh!" Tonya- "White tea."

Chelsey-"I can't wait to smell that one." Tonya- "Go ahead." Chelsey- "I can smell it right here?" Tonya- "Yeah, it's a little stronger." Chelsey- "Mmm! That smells really good." Tonya- "Isn't that nice, it's fresh and clean. I can see that anywhere in your house." Tonya- "Right."

And how does she come up with all of these fabulous scents?

Tonya- "A lot of them I get a base fragrance and then I will add, mix a couple fragrances together. Like the cinnamon and the pumpkin pie and then I'll pop the cinnamon over with the mac apple for apple cinnamon."

Tonya- "The White Tea is my own but I'm not telling you."

Tonya- "So some of these are getting ready and we can probably pour soon." Chelsey- "Oh yeah. They are a lot thicker." Tonya- "See how they get thicker. It's kind of like fudge."

Now that the base ready to go it was time to measure our fragrance and pour it in.

Tonya- "And we are doing 3.0."

Chelsey- "Ok, so it takes quite a bit. At first I was a little afraid I was going to go over right away." Tonya- "Nope."

Tonya- "Just pour it right in here and stir it up."

Once the fragrance is added you can actually see the wax change.

Chelsey- "Oh my gosh it smells good." Tonya- "That one is fresh and clean." "It smells fresh and clean!" (laughter)

Chelsey- "I'll watch you first." Tonya- "And you just pour it right in."

Chelsey- "It's a little bit nerve wracking." Tonya- "No it's great. You're doing a great job."

Tonya-"Um. Do a continuous pour though because you can get air bubbles." Chelsey- "Oh. Until there?" Tonya- "No a little bit more." Chelsey-"Uh-oh I stopped." Tonya- "That's okay. There you go!"

Tonya- "The air bubbles don't really do any harm to the candle, but it doesn't look so nice."

Chelsey- "I just dripped that down the side." Tonya- "That's okay. We clean them up after if there are any drips."

I continued to measure the fragrances and pour candles to the best of my ability, but when I got to Sugar Cookie, I had to stop...

Chelsey- "Mmm! That smells good enough to eat."

Tonya- "These are ready to pop off, so now they stay right in the center where they belong." Chelsey-"Ok."

All I had to do now was cut the wicks, add a caution label, and the company stickers and this candle was ready for retail.

Chelsey- "After all of what we did today would I possibly be hired at making candles with you?" Tonya- "Yes you definitely would. You did a great job."

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To find out more about Colley Hill Soy Candles visit their website, www.colleyhill.com

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