According to Joshua Kinder, Jay Candles is a family business focused on quality and giving back. Kinder is currently in sales now, but four months ago, with the support of his wife, Angela, the family started producing and selling candles. “For as long as I can recall,” he said, “it has always been a desire to obtain the American dream of owning a business.”
Kinder said the family settled on candle making after considering four questions. He said, “How can we give more money to support the preaching and teaching of the gospel into all the world? How can we include all members of the family? What are we good at? What is not local but people enjoy?” Kinder said 20 percent of all sales go to the church, to answer the first question, and while their two-year-old and 5-month-old can’t help much, their three other boys, eight-year-old Zachary, seven-year-old Jacob, and five-year-old Elijah do the wick trimming, labeling, and lid attaching respectively.
Demonstrating the process of making candles, Kinder broke it down into four steps: Step 1 was heating 2lb batches of wax flakes in a pot on the stove up to 170 degrees. In step 2, Kinder removed the wax from the heat and added the fragrance and color at this temperature. He then let it cool by 20 degrees while mixing. Step 3 was pouring the wax into the jars and tart molds once cooled to this level. Step 4 involved the boys trimming the wicks and labeling after the wax cooled enough to do so. They also prepared the jars with wicks during the melting, all under the supervision of their mother. Kinder also had tart molds used for tart warmers.
Kinder said, “We wanted to represent the local area and what better way of doing that then using the city of Jay as the name of the candle business?” The blue and white colors of the Jay High School Royals are in the label. Jay’s soy production is represented in the soy-based wax the Kinders use. He said the soy wax is a cleaner burning wax, which can also be used as a lotion when melted.
Fragrances include scents like Cinnamon, Wonderberry, and Country Lemonade. Peanut Butter will join the list in time for the October 4 and 5 Jay Peanut Festival, according to Kinder.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Jay candle makers explain their process