Two Sisters Candleworks Featuring All Natural Soy Candles

The History Of Candles

Now an increasing popular home decor element,
candles were once a necessity.
The ancient Egyptians often are credited with creating candles
because they made torches, also known as rushlights,
by soaking reeds in molten tallow.
But it was the Romans who first came up with wicks,
making tallow candles so travelers could find their way in the dark
and people could light their homes and places of worship at night.
Wax met wick in the Middle Ages, when beeswax
secreted by honeybees, became an alternative to tallow.
The latter produced a smoky flame and acrid odor,
but beeswax candles burned pure and clean.
Naturally, they were more expensive,
and only the wealthy could afford them.
American colonists contributed to candle making with the discovery
that boiled bayberries produced a fragrant wax.
But picking the berries and extracting the wax
was so tedious that the popularity of bayberry candles soon diminished.
In the late 18th century, the whaling industry came along
and introduced a wax made from crystallized whale oil.
It didn't smell bad, and it was harder than tallow or beeswax.
The first "standard candles" were born from whale oil.
But it was the 19th century that revolutionized candle making,
including both the invention of a machine that allowed
continuous production of molded candles
and the production of paraffin wax.
Pariffin wax was distilled from crude oil
and was found to be durable and clean burning.
The light bulb arrived in 1879,
but candles remained an affordable alternative to electricity
well into the 20th century.
Now we have candles in all shapes, colors, sizes and fragrances.

The History of Soy Candles

1991
In 1991 Michael Richards founded Candleworks to manufacture beeswax candles.
As he entered the candle industry with beeswax products he
realized there was a growing demand for natural wax candles. However,
there was a huge economic barrier. Namely, the cost of beeswax was 10
times the cost of petroleum candle wax (paraffin). In July, Michael
Richards started experimenting with a wide range of plant waxes and
vegetable oils to find a natural wax that could be cost-competitive with
petroleum wax. He completed thousands of hours of tests with tropical
plant waxes such as carnauba and candelilla waxes, plus domestic oils such
as corn and soybean oil.
1992-1994
In 1992, this testing resulted in the first vegetable wax candle, made from a
blend of vegetable oils and natural waxes. At that stage of development,
the vegetable wax was hard and brittle. To obtain a softer, more pliable
wax, Michael started to acquire and test a wider range of tropical and
domestic plant oils. This included partially hydrogenated coconut, palm,
and soybean oils. Michael Richards continued working on two parallel tracks:

• Manufacturing beeswax candles
• Research and development for other vegetable wax candles. In 1994
Michael started blending beeswax with soybean oil to achieve an economical
natural wax candle.
1995
The Body Shop, a national chain of stores that was
Candleworks’ main beeswax candle customer, issued the first purchase
orders for a line of natural wax aromatherapy candles from Candleworks.
For the first three months, the content of the Body Shop candle wax was a
blend of beeswax and almond oil. Because of the increasingly high cost of
almond oil, Michael then started blending soybean oil with the beeswax. He
completely replaced almond oil with soybean oil in all commercial
production of candles in May of 1995.
1996
Michael then experimented with various ranges of hydrogenated
soybean oil to eliminate the costly beeswax in his natural wax formula. In
the fall of 1996, beeswax was no longer used. Instead, the candle wax
developed and utilized by Candleworks featured hydrogenated soybean oil as
the majority percentage of the candle formula. Other vegetable oils were
then added in minority portions to achieve specific cosmetic
characteristics, such as a smooth even surface and scent projection.
Michael created low-melt soy wax for container candles and a high-melt
point wax for freestanding pillar candles in 1996.
With the goal of creating an edible birthday cake candle,
Purdue University students developed their own candle formula using
soybean oil. The candles won first place in a competition sponsored by the
Indiana Soybean Development Council and Purdue's Department of Agronomy.
1997
Candleworks negotiated with the University of Iowa to provide
a chemical engineering intern to test and document the new soy waxes
developed by Michael Richards. This resulted in a report prepared for the
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship titled: "Increasing
the Use of Soybeans in the Manufacturing of Candles".
1998
The Indiana Soybean Board unveiled a brand of candles called
Harvest Lights made from soybeans at the Farm Progress Show. The
development of these candles was completely farmer-funded through the
Soybean Checkoff program. This formula has since been patented.
1999-2000
Documentation of Michael’s research process on the development
of natural plant-based waxes from 1991 through 1999 was submitted to a
patent law firm in Des Moines, Iowa (Mc Kee, Vorhees and Sease). Formal
application for patent pending status was presented to the U.S. patent
office the following year.

Soywax, a hydrogenated soybean oil that is used as renewable and
biodegradable alternative to paraffin wax in candle-making, was
investigated for its tendency of producing soot and potentially harmful
organic volatiles (e.g. acrolein, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde) during
candle burning. While a considerable amount of soot was produced from the
combustion of paraffin candles under disturbed condition (simulated air
movement), little or none was observed from soywax candles. Low level of
formaldehyde was detected in paraffin candle fume, but it was not present
significant quantity in the soywax candle fume. Acrolein was not detected
in either type of candles. Soywax candles burned at a significantly lower
rate than paraffin candles did. Thermal, textural and combustion
properties, such as melting and solidification profiles, candle surface
temperature distribution, hardness and adhesiveness, and burning rate, of
a hydrogenated vegetable oil were also investigated. Effect of adding
hydrogenated palm oil, free fatty acids, and paraffin on these functional
properties were quantified. For complete technical information, please
refer to the following two recent publications.
Rezaei, K., T. Wang, and L. A. Johnson. Hydrogenated vegetable oils as
candle wax. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 79: 1241-1247 (2002).
Rezaei, K, T. Wang, and L.A. Johnson. Combustion characteristics of
candles made from hydrogenated soybean oil. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 79: 803-808 (2002).
2001
Cargill purchased intellectual property rights in Michael's
soy wax innovation. Cargill now manufactures soybean wax formulas
developed by Michael. Michael continues to market the soy wax in the
industry and provide technical training for other candle manufacturers in
the use of soy wax.
2002
Michael Richards launched a nationwide guild of candle
manufacturers called “Village Chandler”. This guild is committed to the
use of soy wax in candle production. (At present there are more than 62
Village Chandlers in 17 states and Canada).
2003
This soy wax innovation is fast-becoming a new national industry.

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