earthen: Creating a Candle Line
I felt inspired to create product labels for a metaphysical candle line.
This line incorporates the art and science of herbs and essential oils with the energy of the natural world. Together, these puzzle pieces form a line of intention candles. To manifest these intentions, the user carves their name into the candle, invokes their intentions (be it a blessing, mantra, or internal visualization), and burns the candle a little every day.
Conjuring up the theme for this line offered me some distinct directions. Do I want ethereal candles? Something gothic and bold? Natural, organic forms? The candle “competition” in the Enchantments and Oddities shop nearby mainly references pentagrams or Celtic themes. So I started playing around with ethereal vibes for something mystical and almost delicate. When ethereal became too intertwined with the more mysterious and magical aspects of intention candles, I turned to nature for inspiration. I needed something that evoked autumn leaves or a gentle stream.
The Enchantments and Oddities shop has aquamarine stones in a bowl made from a tree trunk, so I used the rich turquoise color of the stones as one of my logo colors. I also chose umber to symbolize trees and falling leaves. With the colors selected, I focused on an earthy logo. What better way to represent the beauty of nature than with a logo resembling the tree of life? The brand name had to be simple and organic: in my head, I crossed “earthy” with “barren.” Barren wasn’t necessarily the vibe I wanted, but I liked the sound of “earthen.” Earthen felt huskier, warm, and signaled an “of the earth” meaning.
