Blowing Rock, NC: High Country Candles

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Blowing Rock, NC is a little village nestled in the mountains that makes you think of words like "village" and "nestled." The 5 or 6 blocks on the main strip consists of little gift shops and restaurants with incredibly lush landscaping spotted with benches and chairs, an invitation too hard to resist.
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Tom and I had cut across town via Memorial Park, circled the little pond, read for an hour on a bench at the water's edge and climbed back up behind the park to find ourselves smack outside the High Country Candle Shop.
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I love candles and decided to spend some time watching them in production. I used to study Aunt Edna as she made candles in her cool, dark basement in upstate NY and I smiled at the memories of the candles hanging, dripping, drying. We were pulled into the Blowing Rock store and greeted warmly. The Ziegler family has been making candles since '85, opening this particular location in '94. I sniffed out several of my favorite jar candles, put them on the counter, then went over to watch Mr. Z. make their classic carved candles.

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He started with a core of translucent wax, a high quality parafin. This was dipped alternately in two different colors, repeatedly, maybe 6 dips or more.

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The candle was hung to drip for just a moment, then he began carving very quickly. He had about 8 minutes in which to work before the candle would become too hard. -

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It was surprising to me how quickly he worked. These candles are gorgeous, I thought they required hours of work.

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Also surprising about these candles - after you burn down the middle a little, you can insert your own candles and continue burning without melting the beaufitul, carved exterior. These candles can last forever. The candle looks beautiful as it burns with light peeking through the ribboned patterns.

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The final step was to dip it in an acrylic which adds a nice glossy finish and also protects the candle from high heat and dust.

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And here it is - the finished product.

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On your next trip to Blowing Rock, be sure to swing by the candle shop and visit awhile. The Zieglers are facing an empty nest, like us, and also like us, they have just become grandparents for the first time. Life is good.