Candice Wagener
Tired of plain old containers? Make a candle in a tea cup for some fun.
You probably know a butcher and a baker, but do you know a candlemaker?
Lyschel Bersch has been making candles for over 20 years. She majored in environmental law and minored in chemistry at UW-Milwaukee, so she approaches candle making from a scientific as well as an artistic standpoint. And she’s intent on passing her knowledge along to others via her Monroe Street store, Karner Blue Candle and Supply.
Karner Blue hosts a range of candle-making classes; they cost $20-$50, depending on the type of candle being made, from votives to tapers and pillars. Votives are the most popular and most often requested as the theme for a party class, which Karner Blue will host as well.
If you want to make more than a few candles, setting up a small operation at home is easy, provided you have a safe place to work (where spills will not reach anything flammable) and an indirect heat source (like a double-boiler on a hot plate). A couple pounds of wax and a scent can cost as little as $20. Thinking about going into business for yourself? Purchasing everything necessary will set you back about $300. Luckily, Karner Blue rents equipment if you’re just dabbling.
Candice Wagener
Bersch sells her signature scents, from moss to Dragon’s Blood.
Bersch collaborates with larger perfume houses to create her own scents, all 67 that you’ll see sold in-house. They are a combination of essential oils and other binders. It can take up to four years to develop a scent, says Bersch. She started selling candles made with her first two scents, banana nut bread and cappuccino hazelnut, in coffeehouses around town before opening her first store, Candle Cocoon, on Old University Avenue, in 1999. Candle Cocoon lives on as a website that sells candle-making supplies.
The Monroe Street shop sells the candles Bersch makes herself, along with DIY supplies. It also functions as a gallery store for glassware, jewelry, soap and candles made by some of her clients and former students.
Bersch is conscious of her business’ impact on the environment. In working with her manufacturers, she ensures her scents are environmentally friendly. She minimizes the use of phthalates (also known as “plasticizers”) and solvents in her candles. These ingredients are thought to cause headaches and bronchial problems. She’s worked to source North American glassware for her containers and ensure it meets safety standards. All her soy for soy wax is U.S.-grown, and she is encouraging several companies to develop an organic soy wax.
“We can do better,” she says. Candlemakers “need to have some sort of organic option.”
Karner Blue is also making a difference by helping out its namesake, the Karner Blue, the most endangered butterfly in the Midwest. The business donates a portion of the profits from the sale of its “Flutter Dyes” (candle coloring, shaped into the form of a butterfly) to the Sand County Foundation, which recently announced the butterflies are rebounding in some areas.
Now that’s something to light a candle for.
Karner Blue Candle and Supply 1915 Monroe St., 608-258-2558, karnerbluecandle.com
