Almost 5 months ago, I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Hazel. I knew we’d be taking some time off from Wordsmith Candles as we got to grips with the challenges of new parenthood (in the midst of a countrywide lockdown), but I didn’t anticipate that it would be May before we could finally re-open. A lot has happened in the meantime. Our first loose plan for reopening was in February. We worked on some wholesale orders at that time, and when we finished I knew it was too soon after the birth to reopen just then. Working from home by myself making candles between Hazel’s daytime naps was…challenging. At least Darren could help in the evenings after his day job!

We were then going to open our website in mid-March, but due to delays getting some supplies, we had to postpone until early April. Then, the purchase of our new home went through and we had to pack up our belongings, business, dog, and little baby to move (and get some work done in the new house too). After so many false starts, to say we are excited to be back would be an understatement.

One of the challenges we’ve had while waiting to re-open has been the sky-rocketing of raw material costs over the last few months. This is due to a number of factors such as a shortfall in production of waxes, glass, and fragrance, increased consumer demand for candles globally and therefore more competition between candle makers for scarcer supplies, and of course shipping cost increases due to Brexit and Covid-19. As a small business, we don’t have the capacity to wholly absorb these increased costs. We will keep the prices of our candles the same for the rest of the month after re-opening until the 1^st of June, to give all of you who have been patiently waiting for our reopening the chance to stock up. After this period, we will be increasing our prices in order to maintain the high quality you have come to expect from Wordsmith Candles. We hope that in time when global supply issues have normalised, we will be able to return to our former prices. Thank you so much to all of our customers for your support – it means the world to us!