By Drew,

More than a year ago now the idea for Dead Horse Bay Candles was born. Us folks at foundation4.com learned about a bay in South Brooklyn, NY that was the site of NYC’s horse rendering plants in the 19th century.  Several such plants were making fertilizer and glue, I suppose, from… uh… retired city carriage horses giving the area the name “Dead Horse Bay”.

The site would later become one of New York City’s first landfills that connected several islands west of Jamaica Bay and created the foundation for Floyd Bennet Field. The landfill, that was “capped” in the 1930′s, began to erode in the 1950′s and has since been spewing late 19th and early 20th century trash onto the beach there.

What remains really is only what hasn’t decomposed over the decades. You’re sure to find many shoe soles, mangled doll parts and even.. yup.. neatly chopped up horse bones. Most abundant though are old glass jars and bottles not so gently weathered by time and the ocean. Stepping onto the beach there is like traveling back in time. The quantity of whats there is mind blowing! and as much as you collect the landfill continues to erode and replenish the beach.

The question became “how could we possibly reuse some of this stuff in a meaningful way?” The answer was, in the end, simple: collect, clean, and up-cycle the glass bottles and jars. We’ve made light fixtures, vases, and most popular… scented candles.

Our goal with the candles was to use the purest and most natural ingredients. It took a long time to get it right and we are so proud of what we’ve come up with. We only use pure essential oils from easily renewable sources (no tree oils). The wax is 100% natural soy wax with no additives. Finally our wicks are cotton coated with natural vegetable wax. We’ve developed three scents: Gingergrove (ginger & grapefruit), Oak Moss (patchouli, lavender, & bergamot), and First Frost (mint, lavender, & orange).

Over the past year we’ve tested the candles at flea markets and with friends and family. We’ve had amazing positive feedback, and after a few packaging transformations we are offering the candles online in a big way. All candles ship free from our website until the end of the year! (click any candle photo in this post to be redirected) We’ll even be selling through a couple of local Brooklyn stores!  Our 7oz repurposed and recyclable jar candles are now sporting new colorful labels. They’re presented in natural cotton drawstring bags made in the USA. The bags are inspired by packaging of decades past. The ink is intended to be hand washed out and the hope is that the pouches will be repurposed. They’re great for jewelry storage, arts and crafts supplies, marbles?… whatever! We’ve also introduced new 3.5oz travel tins so it’s easy to take your candle with you and make anywhere feel more like home. The tins are also great for repurposing after the candle is gone and if all else fails, they can be recycled too.

Please have a look at our original jar candles and our new travel tins. Did I mention we’re offering free shipping on all candle products from now until the end of the year! Thanks!!!

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