Candles Love Soy!

We’re moving!! This change is long overdue - instead of having two facility’s, we will now have one.

This last year has been exceptionally difficult for me personally, I got divorced, am now a single mom of 4, but more importantly, I lost my dad and business partner to the devastating and cruel disease of MS (multiple sclerosis). It’s been a very difficult transition not having his insight and business know-how, and mainly just not having his companionship. His presence has been pivotal throughout this journey of sculpting Caterpillars into the business it now is. Consequently, I’ve decided to move closer to my family, and to our second location, which will become our first/only candleshop.  I have a new business plan and feel confident that good things are in store for Caterpillars in 2010!!

We are currently closed and not accepting any new orders.  All orders that have been placed are being processed and we hope to have them all shipped by Monday January 11th.  We will re-open on or around January 20th.

Thank you for your patience and for your business! We wouldn’t be where we are without our great and loyal customers!

Also, we currently have no way to access our voicemail so if you need to reach us, or have been trying, please send email to sales {at} caterpillars candles [dot] com.

Kindly,

Jennifer

Wishing all of my family, friends, and acquaintances happiness in this season of gratitude. Thank you for your friendship & support!

Every once in a while we get a batch of Palm Wax in  that just doesn’t have enough Stearic in it to make it release from the mold.  It is a very frustrating experience to have all of your Pillars glued into the mold like a sea urchin clinging to a rock.  It’s just not gonna budge.  Here’s my parody.

……

This pillar thinks it has all the power…ouch!

…..

Oh yea, take that! You gonna mess with me?

…..

Ha ha ha! (said in an evil dr. Jekyll laugh)

Run, baby run!

Really, in all seriousness, I hate when this happens. Totally such a PAIN!! Now we have to spend hours chipping and heating these things out of the molds.  Dozens of them… UGH! I had to make it a little comical or I’d probably lose my mind.

We are a proud sponsor of the Miss Us Beauty’s Pageant, and received a photo of this year’s winner, Kelly Anne.  She said she could smell the aroma through the box, it was so strong & she had just finished taking a big sniff when this picture was taken! Oh Yeah, it shows

I’ve been saying it for years, finally, a new study confirms what many in the candle industry already knew, but are afraid to admit. Burning paraffin based candles, even soy “blends”, could potentially contribute to you getting cancer. It is an unrecognized source of exposure to indoor air pollution, including the known human carcinogens, benzene and toulene, scientists report.

In the study by  South Carolina State University, R. Massoudi Ph.D., and Amid Hamidi , Ph.D., said that that candles made from bee’s wax or soy, although more expensive, apparently are healthier. They do not release potentially harmful amounts of indoor air pollutants while retaining all of the warmth, ambience and fragrance of paraffin candles (which are made from petroleum).

“An occasional paraffin candle and its emissions will not likely affect you,” Hamidi said. “But lighting many paraffin candles every day for years or lighting them frequently in an un-ventilated bathroom around a tub, for example, may cause problems.”

Besides the more serious risks, he also suggested that some people who believe they have an indoor allergy or respiratory irritation may in fact actually be reacting to air pollutants from burning candles.

For more information, visit our soy candle facts or benefits of soy candles page.

…  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..

A similar article, posted on cnn.com has a comment from the National Candle Association, stating they have done their own tests on various types of candles, and have concluded that paraffin is a “safe” option.  I’d just like to point out such a reaction is expected because the oil industry has assumed a very dominant position in the candle manufacturing business. The oil industry not only sells their byproducts to the candle industry but also has four members sitting on the board of the National Candle Association.

- original news article

As I sit here and type this I’m still trying to recover from our trip last weekend to West Hollywood for Green With Pride.  Think High Energy, Celebrity, Green & Eco Friendly & did I mention High Energy? Green With Pride is an eco-friendly marketplace inside LAPride & San Diego Pride. The crowd was amazing , over 100,000 Pride attendee’s strolled past our booth - there was even an autograph signing and live performance by Deborah Cox, the Green With Pride Official Spokesperson! So you can’t see her in this pic - she’s hidden behind the camera man.  Deborah is a very warm & concerned person, you can learn more about her and listen to her music here.

Our new H.O.P.E. and D.R.E.A.M. collection was even more popular than anticipated! Thanks everyone for stopping by - we really enjoyed seeing your reactions to our candles & fragrances (overwhelming response by the way is “WOW! - these smell sooo good!”). We smiled & waved, danced a little bit. Met quite a few loyal Caterpillars Candle user’s and introduced many newbies to our fantastic aroma’s. We met other wonderful green company’s like Reusniks reusable dry cleaning bag’s Clear20, the gal’s over at Method were fun & wonderful and be sure to check out Green And Greener, a local LA green store. We can’t wait to meet even more Eco-Friendly Candle fan’s in San Diego July 19th-20th.