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10/19/2023 05:11 AMThe Happy Fall Y’all Outdoor Craft Series is on Saturday, Oct. 21 at the North Haven Fairgrounds, where vendors will be presenting their crafty creations with live music, food trucks, and kid-friendly activities. One of the participating vendors is North Haven resident Nicole Blair, who has been a fairground regular since 2019.
Nicole is the crafter of SoyScents by Nicole, hand-poured candles made out of soy wax materials. She began making candles in 2016 as a hobby during college, and the practice evolved into a business.
“I did it as a craft in 2018, 2019, and then during COVID is when I really picked it up as a business, and I went through all the routes to actually make it a legitimate business,” says Nicole.
Finding one’s craft does not always start out easy, as Nicole says some practices “don’t always articulate the way you want them to.”
“I pick up a lot of hobbies, and I fixate on one, and then I’ll leave them. I’ve done knitting, I’ve tried diamond art; it just hasn’t been anything that really caught my interest for the long term,” says Nicole. “Candle making is something I started as just a random hobby in college...and it was a hobby to do while all my other friends wanted to go out in the snow and I did not, and then from there it just became something I really liked.”
Nicole says she became interested in the science behind the craft, such as becoming familiar with the chemicals in wax oils to know which ones are toxic or non-toxic. Learning that led her to create and sell candles made from soy material. It is a safer alternative to paraffin wax because of the “benefits of the cleanness and the eco-friendly aspect of them.”
“Soy has a cleaner burn,” she says. “It’s better for you to breathe in; it’s better for the environment. It’s also better for a renter...so it doesn’t leave that black soot on your ceilings or your walls. Being a cleaner burn, they’re safer for asthmatics, pets, and babies. I have a Boston [Terrier] with a pushed-in snout, so he has a hard time breathing around smoke, so they’re safe for him to breathe in.”
Nicole is a preschool teacher at North Guilford Nursery School and sells her kid-friendly candles to families who can be assured of their child’s safety in the event of an accident.
“If one of the kids knocked them over, hopefully not with a flame, but it is still flammable...it is easier to clean up, so it doesn’t ruin furniture or clothing or anything like that as much,” says Nicole.
Math and science play significant and enjoyable roles in the creation of the candles themselves, says Nicole, who holds a degree in the latter and is seeking a degree in the former. This involves finding the perfect ratio between the elements of wax, soy, color, and temperature. Finding an accurate measurement between these components is important “because the chemicals from the oil only bond with the chemicals in soy wax specifically at a certain temperature,” she says. “It’s different for each wax you use and different for whatever brand of soil you use.”
Soy wax is a softer form of wax, and it burns at a different temperature than paraffin, “so you have to make sure you have the balance of the temperature correct so the chemicals and molecules blend correctly to get you the scent you want,” explains Nicole.
Nicole is looking forward to once again bringing her creations to her native community of North Haven, where she was born and has lived for 27 years. She says the Craft Series is a “really special” way to bring the community together, and Nicole enjoys seeing both familiar and new faces. She explains to them how candles evolve from a flake or liquid to a craft that produces a pleasing scent in a person’s home. It’s also an occasion to be with many other returning craft vendors.
“We have our own community there, as well,” says Nicole. “Three of my closest friends are girls I’ve been with at this event, and we come back, and we vend together, and we request spots next to each other every year. It’s showing the art, but it’s also the community that’s involved with the crafting.”
The Happy Fall Y’all event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the North Haven Fairgrounds at 290 Washington Avenue on Saturday, Oct. 21. For more information about Nicole’s candles, visit www.etsy.com/shop/Soyscentsbynicole or www.facebook.com/soyscentsbynicole.