Made in Vermont: Mountain Stone Candle

HYDE PARK, Vt. (WCAX) - Most days, you can find Valerie Slayton in her Hyde Park home making candles. It’s a bit of an escape.

She started playing around with candle-making in 2021.

“Well I had the pandemic blues, and I just had my second child,” she explained. “I was exhausted and tired of being tired. I wanted to start to feel like myself again.”

Looking to find her light again, she bought a candle kit online as a way to relax and de-stress.

“I kept buying candles and I wasn’t that impressed with what they were,” Slayton explained.

So, she set out to make her own. After a year of trial and error, she launched Mountain Stone Candle.

“My whole idea was to keep everything as natural as possible,” she said.

Slayton swears by coconut apricot wax, a newer and more environmentally friendly candle wax. She says it’s also cheaper than beeswax, but it’s much softer and took a bit of time to adjust to.

“Everything is a science with candle-making, it’s the vessel it goes into, it’s the fragrance, it’s the wicks,” Slayton said.

She uses wooden wicks, known for their rustic crackling sounds when burning. She uses glass jars and wooden bowls, too.

Not to mention, her scents are far from overpowering. Slayton tells us she makes a conscious effort for her candles to be not perfume-y.

“I wanted to keep it, like you said, very earthy. More natural, because I thought that’s what the community would be into,” said Slayton. “I know people love natural and as organic as things could be, so that’s my goal.”

These candles also have a sparkly twist. Each one comes with a number of crystals sprinkled in.

“I love citrine,” she laughs. “Amethyst is very popular.”

The crystals are said to have special properties associated with them, be it for health, love, communication or mood... to name a few.

“I wanted them to be more for like a healing property, for me, that’s what it was,” she said.

Focused on sharing these with her community, these candles are available in local shops and in various farmers markets around Lamoille County. You can order the candles online, too. That way, everyone looking for a natural, long-lasting and beautiful candle can find their perfect match.

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