Who Will Miss Jenna the Most?

As in all things, change is inevitable.

Recent changes at Umbra Essence Candles + Gifts include saying goodbye to our Jenna. Mademoiselle Jenna was our first Assistant Manager when we opened in the new location. She came to us in 2007 upon returning home to Chattanooga from Paris, France where she was living and working as a nanny for several years. But, her sights were always set on something else beyond Chattanooga and she is off to explore more possibibilties for her young life, this time out in San Fransisco.

We will all miss sweet Jenna and her bouyant smile and laughter.

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Ke Chen for winning our Mother's Day essay contest! Ke Chen writes to us from Pennsylvania about a woman who has influenced her in more ways than one, her mother, Ling Yu.

"Giving Happiness" by Ke Chen

I came to Hawaii from a village in China when I was six. For a kid, Hawaii was great. Sun, beach, and lots of happy children running around. But my mom went from being a chemist to taking the bus everyday to the other side of Oahu, trying to find a job. I remember looking at friends, at their Barbies, and wondered why all I had in my backpack was a green notebook on sale earlier that week; ignoring the fact that it took my mom two weeks to earn enough money for it.

But that all changed one day in the 9th grade when I came home and found my mom crying because someone had threatened to fire her from her only employment of hand-sewing pieces of a sofa together. It was the first time I’d seen her cry and it broke my heart. I dropped my books and ran to her; some kind of raw, foreign, emotion I couldn’t even recognize swept through me. She looked up at me and said, “Sorry, I just got some dust in my eyes.” And that’s when I realized this dream of hers, for me to be given the opportunity to be happy, was for her, far more important than herself.

So yes, I realize I could write about the time when my mom and I got on the wrong flight and didn’t realize it until we were halfway around the country; or when she made me cookies after school and put salt instead of sugar, but then you wouldn’t really be getting a feel of who my mother really is. She's given up her happiness so that I would be given the opportunity to pursue my dreams, so I would be happy. And yet, despite the fact that she never complains, I see how she tears up from back-pain. She’s never set foot in a spa but I see how she eyes it from our window.

She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen on this earth - she is the down-to-earth, natural, strong women that every daughter needs as an example in her life. And I think it’s about time she got some well-deserved recognition for it. Don’t you?

-Ke Chen, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania

Sember Speaks

When I first started working at Umbra Essence I was fairly clueless about candles. Sure I've always loved candles, like most people. They're warm; they fill a room with a lovely scent; they create an atmosphere of comfort. When someone drops in and candles are lit it communicates hospitality. Candle light says: "Come in, we've slowed down for the day and have time for you."

But what about the actual candle? The product?

What differentiates handmade candles from mass produced candles?

One thing that struck me about the care that Jamie puts into her candles at Umbra Essence is the rigorous tests her candle wicks go through. In our production area there is a counter where a row of candles are lined up and each one is made with a different wick. At the begining of each day these candles are lit, the time marked in a log. They burn all day and are then snuffed out at the end of the day, when the time is logged again along with any observations about how it burned that day. Often it takes several 8 hour days to burn through a single candle from beginning to end.

Then a number of questions ensue:
How long did it burn?
Did it burn evenly?
Did it burn too fast?
Did it burn slow and nice?

No one wants a candle that is like a sinkhole and drowns itself out with a puddle of wax.

Thus is the discovery to deterime the perfect wick. And not just one. There are different wicks for each size of candle and each blend of wax. They are all tested in every combination to match the right wick with the right blend and size for the perfect even burn.

Would it be easier to cut from the same spool of wicks for all the candles? Of course. But "easy" is not the kind of care that Jamie puts into her candles. The quality of her candles is deeply important to her, as she imagines them burning and giving light and pleasure to the many people that take them home.

I've come a long way in my knowledge of candle making since the first day of seeing wick testing.
I am in love not just with Umbra Essence Candles, but with the handcrafted quality of the product. Sure, I can buy a candle almost anywhere that might cost less, but what am I paying per hour of burn time? And, why would I want a mass-produced candle made with an alcohol-based frangrance oil or a loose / off center wick that will make the wax concave.

Call me a candle snob, but who wouldn't want a hand crafted candle made with care and quality?

Just think: This is only the very beginning of what goes into making a good candle.

(What's in your candle?)