Week 12 - Can I Candle? Yes, I can.
The end of the blog, but not the end of candle making.
This week I made three candles. I think I have finally figured out a method that is efficient, I can make multiple at a time, and the wick stays in place! I haven't added pictures since week 2 probably, so here is a picture of my set up. It looks weird, but it works!
As far as continuing with my new occupation, I have some more holiday fragrance oils on hand and some more wax, so I will make a few more before Christmas. Once I am out of my shaved wax, I will probably re-use the wax from some of my candles that didn't turn out much of a scent. After that, I will probably take a break from candle making, since the supplies are a little bit expensive. Though I kind of like the idea of getting to a point where I have good looking and good smelling candles that I could try to sell. I don't think I would do it all the time, but maybe do some in the spring and some in fall/holiday seasons. It could at the very least help cover the cost of supplies so I can enjoy the occupation more, or even get me a little side cash.
I do feel like I have benefited from this new activity. It is fun to try new things, and I am proud to see improvement and see how much I have learned. And I can make my room smell really nice. It may have given me some insight into what it is like to learn a new task, since I struggled at first and made many mistakes. However, I am not sure it was so hard that I can truly understand what clients experience. I mentioned in a previous post that candle making is kind of a combination of crafting and cooking, which are other important occupations of mine, so some of the skills weren't totally new. I think it would be much more difficult or frustrating to learn or re-learn a skill that was necessary to perform every day. I only got around to candle making once a week.
Some of my favorite topics from this semester include:
- Reslience
- Doing, being, becoming, belonging
- Space and place
- Well-being
- Flow and boredom
- Story making
I like resilience, story making, and the concepts of doing, being, becoming, and belonging, because they show a progression. An important part of our experiences and what makes them meaningful is the process we go through and the change that occurs over time. On the other hand, we could look at space and place, well-being, flow, and boredom as the meaning experienced in the moment. I never really thought of it this way until I started typing this out, but we do experience meaning as an ongoing process and as a moment to moment experience.
For future MOT students selecting a new occupation, I would suggest they be willing to go out of their comfort zone. I really enjoy the choice I made, but part of me wishes I had done something totally different. Candle making ended up being somewhat easy for me in terms of skill. The hard part with it was having to wait a few weeks before I could light a candle to see how they turned out, to know if my recipe and techniques were working correctly. It was also hard because of supplies, and I don't really need an endless supply of candles. I also would suggest picking something that can be part of your life more often. For candle making, it would not be realistic to make candles every day unless I wanted to start a business. But for a leisurely occupation or hobby, it could be a more meaningful experience to participate in it more frequently.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteNow you have a new skill and a great gift to give whenever you don't have an idea! The price of the material to begin a new occupation or hobby is the worst part about starting. But, if you're looking at it as a new side hustle, you'd probably make your money back in no time! As my experience was different with starting a new occupation, I am glad you had a better outcome than I did. The topics that interested you the most are very similar to topics I found most impactful. I really enjoyed Resilience. It highlighted that no matter the struggles we face in life, whether it be a disability or not, our human nature is to figure out ways in which to come out on the other side and see the lessons learned and strength it takes to find meaning in the dark spots of life. I know you mentioned making candles is mixture of crafting and cooking, two of your favorite occupations, but what would you say has been most meaningful to you while learning how to make candles? Do you think that meaning could change over time as you continue with this occupation as a side hobby?
Brandy
Thanks for your comments Brandy! And thanks for your questions. I would say that the most meaningful part of it was seeing progress, which is kind of related to resilience. And I think that awareness came from blogging about it every week. I'm sure I have made a lot of progress in my new occupation as a graduate student, but I haven't been writing and reflecting on it each week, so it's harder to see exactly what has changed. I think the meaning could change and grow if I got more into and expanded the range of candle making. Like you saw, right now it feels like a subcategory of other more meaningful occupations, but I could imagine that if I got really good at it or started selling them, candle making would emerge as it's own meaningful category to me.
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