PAUL DAVIS *ÊDaily American Republic
Dr. Michael Stevenson, the Butler County Health Department's medical consultant, received a smallpox vaccination Friday from Cheri Huckstep-Reed, a nurse practitioner with Cape Girardeau County's Public Health Center. On Tuesday, the Southeast Missourian will check in with Cape Girardeau public health workers who also received vaccinations that day.By Scott Moyers ~ Southeast Missourian
eople often smell Ted Stephens before they see him, the potent scent of black cherry, caramel corn or jasmine floating into a room several seconds before he does.
"I'll be standing in line at Buchheit's and people are looking around and sniffing," Stephens said. "I just smile and say, 'That's me.'"
Stephens smells as he does because he and his wife Sue own and operate Solomon Creek Candle Factory, a job that requires him to spend long hours blending strong fragrances with wax and wicks.
His efforts result in a wide and unique array of candles that are sold in various gift shops in Missouri as well as New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and Minnesota.
They also make soaps and bubble bath, but those are sold more seasonally, while candles are sold year-round.
The couple have been running the business locally for about a year.
The candle factory, basically an expanded 1,500-square-foot tool shed, is just behind the Stephens' home, 100 feet or so from the banks of Apple Creek and four houses north of the Perry County line along U.S. 61 near Old Appleton.
One smells like hot bread
Inside, rows of partial and complete candles are lined up, representing many colors -- red, brown, yellow, for example -- used to make candles of 30 different fragrances. The red might be strawberry. The brown is cocoa or coffee. Yellow might be hot buttered popcorn.
You want an even more unusual candle? How about one that smells like hot bread or hot apple pie? Fruit scents, vanilla twists, amber and woody themes such as cedar, sandalwood and vetiver are increasingly popular.
"We look for something different," said Sue Stephens, who generally runs the business end. "We research our fragrances and try to come up with something different. We don't want to be like every other candle out there."
In the factory, there are also work tables, several melting pots -- which heat to 190 degrees to liquefy the wax -- and pallets of fragrances. There are dozens of boxes of candle jars and countless rolls of wick.
Stephens uses about 180 pounds of wax per fragrance, which he and his part-time helpers will use to hand-pour 1,500 4.5-ounce candles and 100 16-ounce candles. On a busy day, they can make 3,000 to 5,000 candles, using as much as 750 pounds of wax.
Unlike many big-name candle companies, Solomon Creek mixes the fragrance throughout the entire candle, and not just on the top layer.
"That way after the first few times you use it, it still smells like what it's supposed to smell like and not just hot wax," Sue Stephens said. "That's what people seem to appreciate about our candles."
They promote their candles by saying they use premium wax, lead-free wicks and that the candles don't make black smoke.
Learned on East Coast
Stephens was born in Missouri, but he learned the candle business working for a high-speed candle manufacturer on the East Coast. He also worked for a time as a soap designer -- he once designed a soap that looked like Stonehenge.
Then he and his wife decided to start their own candle company in Dover, N.J., about 45 minutes outside New York City. That first candle factory was in an industrial complex and had docks for semis to back up to for shipping.
They left the big city shortly after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
"When the towers fell, everything was so unsure at that point," said Sue Stephens. "Then when the mailman showed up with gloves and a dust mask on to protect himself against anthrax, that sort of decided it for us."
They opted for the quiet life of Southeast Missouri, picking Old Appleton, as Sue Stephens puts it, leaving "the Big Apple for the Small Apple."
Once they moved here -- which required three semis to move all of their candle-making equipment -- it was basically like starting over.
"We loved where we were," Ted Simmons said. "But we love it here. We have no regrets."
smoyers@semissourian.com
335-6611, extension 137
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