Northwest Minnesota woman turns hobby into business

Melanie Boe loves drinking in the aroma of angel food cake, apple crisp and blueberry muffins when she's baking.

So it only makes sense that the Newfolden artisan would make soy candles featuring those fragrances along with baked bread, carrot cake and chocolate brownies.

"I just love the baked (scents).  My favorite is the coffee," Boe says.  A coffee enthusiast, she makes and sells cappuccino and amaretto scented candles.

Boe's 100 percent soy candles also feature more traditional scents such as kiwi, plum and watermelon.  In all, she offers 30 different candle scents in 9- and 16-ounce sizes.  She will be adding another 50 scents in the near future.

Her candle making business started in 2001 after she made 75 pillar candles for the tables at her wedding reception.  It was her husband, Kilen, who encouraged her to pursue her hobby and turn it into a business.

Hobby

Boe long has enjoyed craftmaking; before she made the candles for her wedding, she made glycerin soaps for wedding favors and designed greeting cards for people.

"I've always loved doing it.  I never really had the support to do it," Boe says.  Her husband not only gave her emotional support, but also is helping remodel a room in the basement of their home into an office and workroom.

"I was working out of our furnace room," Boe says.  Besides space for a business office and storage space for her supplies, the room also has a work area and a stovetop, which she will use to melt soy flakes.  Boe chose to make and sell soy candles because she believes they are clean burning and a renewable agricultural resource.

"It supports our farmers.  My dad was a farmer and my grandpa was too," says Boe, who grew up in Cavalier, ND.  She sells hundreds of the candles annually, making them in batches of 120.

Fall is her busiest time of year for the candle end of her business.

Boe markets her candles at area craft shows, at northwest Minnesota and Grand Forks retail stores and online.

"I'm starting to get inquiries from all over the world," she says.

Other Products

She also makes and sells glycerin soaps and massage bars and bath products including shower scrubs, body wash and bath salts.  Her next proect is to make and sell lip balm.

Boe thoroughly enjoys the business of craftsmaking.

"I like the computer side of it, too," she says.  A computer teacher for nine years, she loves designing her product labels and developed her own Web site.

"I do everything myself," she says.

Family affair

Her enthusiasm for her work has rubbed off on her sons Braxton, 4, and Peyton, 8, who have their own crafts business called "Me and My Brother's Air Scents."

"They started their own business because they wanted to help out so much," Boe says.  The boys save and reinvest some of their profits and they use the remainder as spending money.

The air scents have sold out at every craft show she's taken them to, Boe says.  Besides being an avenue for the boys to exercise their creativity and teach them how to responsibly handle money, her sons' craft business also helps her carve out time to do her own work.

Like any mother of young children, finding the time to do her work is one of her biggest challenges.  When she does chisel out some time during Braxton's naptime, or late at night after her children are sleeping, the rewards for Boe are great.

"I can forget everything.  I kind of lose myself."

Information about Boe's products are available on the Web at www.madebymelanie.net or by calling (218) 874-2702.

A Newfolden company that specializes in making scented soaps and candles is starting to smell the sweetest smell…success.

Melanie Boe, 35, the owner and only employee of madebymelanie, began making gift cards 10 years ago. She added scented candles and soap to her company’s repertoire five years ago and appears to have found the recipe for success with her newest venture in soy candles.

Boe is a former school teacher, who now, along with working as book keeper for MinnDak Asphalt, specializes in making scented jar and pillar candles. She got into candle making as a hobby by pouring all of the candles that were used in her wedding. Candle making became a hobby and she eventually parlayed it into a business.
With encouragement from her husband, Boe followed her dreams and combined her efforts in candle and soap making with gift cards under the business name, madebymelanie. The business officially opened in 2001 and in took off in May 2005 with the introduction of graduation cards.  

Scented candles

Boe recently switched from making the more commonly known paraffin wax candles to a similar style that is made using soy wax.

“The price of oil went through the roof and [using paraffin] wasn’t practical anymore,” Boe said. Listing the advantages of soy wax, Boe said it doesn’t leave a layer of black soot around the jar like paraffin does; it is made from farms “right here in the Red River Valley;” a soy candle can burn 30 percent longer than paraffin candle of the same size and it is biodegradable.

Boe uses 100 percent soy wax in her candles; not a soy blend. She also uses 100 percent cotton core wicks instead of a lead or zinc core that are commonly used, because some people are allergic to the metallic cored wicks.

Making soy candles

From start to finish, a batch of soy candles can be completed in about 24 hours. The process begins with the melting of wax. Soy wax comes in small pellets, which are purchased in 50-pound paper bags. Wax pellets are are scooped, measured and poured into pouring containers where the wax is melted. Boe adds pellets one cup at a time and stirred into the melted wax to ensure that the wax is melted evenly.

Colors and scents are added next. Once the wax, color and scent oils are mixed evenly, it is time for the wax to cool. This is where the process differs from paraffin, according to Boe, because paraffin typically poured into molds while it is still hot.

“Soy is tricky, because you have to let it cool for a bit,” Boe said, noting that she typically lets the melted soy wax cool for up to an hour and a half before she pours any candles.

Next, Boe will wick the jars, as the wax cools. The larger 16 ounce containers use two wicks; smaller containers use one.

The wax is ready to be poured once it reaches  a temperature between 100 and 110 degrees. With soy wax, any wax temperature over 110 runs the risk of cracking while it cures. 

The final step is the curing phase. All candles must cure for 24 hours before they can be burned. Jars are labeled and packaged once curing is complete.

madebymelanie

Boe’s entire product line is available at her Web site, www.madebymelanie.net. There, customers can select from 30 scents of soy candles, which are available in 16-ounce and nine-ounce varieties; and bath and body products such as bath salts, milk baths, shower scrubs, scented natural soaps and massage bars. There’s also the company’s oldest product, greeting cards. 

Boe’s products can also be found at area craft shows and farmer’s markets. They have also become popular selling items among churches and other organizations for use as a fundraiser.

Melanie and Kilen Boe live in Newfolden with two boys, Peyton, 7, and Braxton, 3.

Along with candle making, Melanie Boe does all her own product labeling, using labels that she designs in her home. A complete product listing is available at www.madebymelanie.net

Melanie Boe started making candles for her wedding. Candle making became a hobby and today it has become part of her business, “madebymelanie.” Boe’s business includes the sale of scented soy candles, gift cards and an assortment of soaps and bath products.