Our Story
Flax and Wax was founded by William & Eleanor Field in 2022 with the intention of providing beautiful, hand-crafted beeswax candles for everyday use.
We made our first candles on the gas stove of our Oxford house in an old tin coffee can. We still keep a pair of those first short, lumpy candles to remind us how much we have learned.
What started out as a hobby with a view to learning and preserving traditional handicrafts has turned into a veritable cottage industry. Today, we make candles from our home workshop in Oxfordshire, with all the care and skill built up over many evenings tending molten wax and threading wick.
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As our family business continues to flourish, we hope to refine our skill further and perhaps pass on this craft one day to those who come after us.
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Our craft
Our candles are made using a traditional dipping method, dating back to at least the ancient Roman era.
We start by melting a large vat of pure, solid beeswax, a process which takes several hours. Once melted, we thread cotton candle wick onto a metal dipping jig. Our jigs allow us to make up to 36 candles in a single batch.
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Once all is prepared, the wick is dipped repeatedly into the beeswax, cooling between layers, until the desired thickness is built up. Then, we cut the base of the candles from the jig and hang them on wooden racks to cool
and harden.
The process is done completely by hand, from the cutting and threading of the wick to the careful immersing in wax to just the right depth.
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