There’s No Rest for the Wicked : After Humble Start, Candle Business Beams in the Glow of Crafts Boom

Nancy Settel gets up at 4 a.m., brushes her teeth, stumbles down to her basement and literally gets up to her elbows in wax.

Nancy Settel, 47, is a candle maker. But it’s not your basic white taper.

Hers are lumpy and bumpy in dull greens and browns. Some are rolled in spices and herbs and they smell wonderful.

The hand-dipped candles, which Settel calls Colonial Grunge Nubbies, look primitive. And that’s just the effect she wants.

“We can’t do cute. We can’t do pretty,” she said.

Actress Jodie Foster thought they were authentic-looking enough to use in her movie “Nell,” the story of a girl raised in a cabin in the wilderness.

With her home decorated in early Americana, Settel was tired of having to make new candles look old before putting them in antique candlesticks.

“It’s such a small, little detail, but it was something that bothered me. I couldn’t stand new, string candles in my candlesticks,” she said.

She would take the new ones and “rough ‘em up and roll ‘em in dirt” to make them look old.

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Then she decided she ought to be able to make them herself, but she never read a how-to book.

“I didn’t read a book until a year later. If I’d read it first, it would have scared me to death,” she said.

She started experimenting in her kitchen. Then she moved to a card table in the basement. Then to two saw horses covered by an old door. Then the operation was large enough for three large tables.

The candle-making business is still in the basement, but now with two part-time employees.

She and her husband, Bill, have an antiques business, “The Sheepish Grin,” which has taken a back seat to the 2 1/2-year-old candle-making business.

Bill Settel, 49, who handles the books for the candles and takes care of the antiques business, said, when his wife first told him she wanted to make candles, his first reaction was “do it.”

“She’s incredibly talented. Whatever she sets her mind to do she does it,” he said. “Neither one of us ever thought it would grow into what it’s grown into.”

He’s projecting $500,000 in sales this year and more than $1 million in sales next year for the candles that cost from $9 for a pair to $34 for a fat 4-by-7 inch candle.

The candles can be found in upscale stores and antique shops in every state except Wyoming. They’re sold in Australia, Britain and Japan.

They’ve been featured several times in Country Living magazine and are on the cover and throughout its holiday issue. They’re also featured in the winter issues of Country Living Gardener and Early American Life.

The Settels haven’t spent a dime on advertising and still, their home phone, which is also the business phone, rings off the hook.

The interest in, and their success as artisans is following a nationwide trend.

“The development of American crafts has been moving forward over several years and it’s not retired people. It’s generally younger people who want to continue the traditions of the 18th and 19th centuries,” said Marilyn Gould, director of the Wilton Historical Society in Wilton, Conn.

The society hosts the American Craftsmanship Show, the granddaddy of American craft shows. About 150 craftsmen are expected to exhibit this weekend. The Settels will be there.

“Last year they did the show for the first year and we were all astounded at the amount of business they did,” Gould said.

“I think one of the reasons they sell very well is they display very well using antiques as props. People can visualize them in that kind of country environment,” she said. “They’re just candles. But Nancy just adds something a little extra. They’re distinctive in look.”

The Settels use about 200,000 pounds of wax a year and 400 pounds of spices a week to keep up with the orders.

The work load is increasing and Nancy Settel admits she needs to hire more help. She should probably move the operation out of her home too. But she likes the hands-on attention she can give by having it just steps away in her basement.

Gould said she’s watched other artisans suffer from burnout when their work becomes popular and they can’t keep pace with orders.

“I’ve known a few it’s just gotten beyond them,” she said.

Gould said some craftsmen simply limit the amount of orders they will take.

So far, the Settels are willing to keep with the grueling schedule. They’ve had an offer of a buyout and been advised to take the company public.

“We’re not ready to do that yet,” Nancy Settels said.