Yesterday I got so wrapped up talking about our plans for the garden that I didn’t have time to talk about how my day went! Since today was relatively chill and not very exciting, I’ll recap how my Sunday was instead.
One of the great things about being your own boss is having the ability to decide your work schedule. The holiday season is the busiest time of year for my candle company, Bit by Bit by Sienna, so I decided to take a little break from Christmas to New Year’s day in order to rest and relax. I had been meaning to drive over to the studio to do some work for the last week, but the weather was either too cold or too wet (and still too cold) that I was easily able to convince myself I could work from home. By the time the weekend came around, I had made up my mind that Sunday was going to be a studio day, and I actually stuck to it.
Alex came with me to the studio to package up some orders for a monthly candle subscription I run called Candle Club. I’ve been doing Candle Club for about seven months now and I’ve got a pretty good system going at the moment so we weren’t at the studio very long at all. I just needed to package up the candles and print labels and we were all set.
My candle studio is quite a small space but it’s actually a great size for me right now. It’s located in a lovely little industrial estate in a quaint village just outside of East Grinstead, nestled amongst sheep paddocks, florists, and farm shops. The studio itself is probably the smallest property in the whole estate, tucked between a handprinted textile artist and a joinery.
Since I didn’t manage to take any pictures that showed off my studio, I’ll do my best to describe it to you.
First of all, when you come through the forest green double doors of my studio you’ll notice an industrial sink to your left, light switches on your right, and a tall metal shelving unit with packing materials that sits just below the hatch to the attic. Just behind the shelving unit, on the left and right sides of the room are two identical white countertops held up by metal legs. The countertop to the left is where I make all the candles, and the one on the right is where I package them and take care of admin duties. And just above the right countertop are a set of shelves that go up to the ceiling, each packed with various candles, candle containers, and fragrances. At the back of the room, directly opposite the doors, you’ll see a pair of cream curtains framing a window that is already home to a few indoor plants.
Having a studio has really been great for me in all aspects. There’s something wonderful about being able to walk in the door and shut the rest of the world out while I focus on making candles.
Anyway, once we finished up at the studio we had a little trip to the garden centre just outside the village. The weather was just sunny enough for us to explore the vast outdoor section that we had yet to discover! Although we tried to make our way around every row of plants, I’m pretty sure we missed at least a few and will need to go back again in Spring.
Our day out drew to an end and we made our journey back home. We ended the day by watching a scary movie upstairs on the projector, and then stayed up a bit longer watching a stream on twitch. By all accounts, it was a good Sunday.
