Namaste: How We Made Our Own Candle Label (and You Can Too)

We wanted to make something slow, a little imperfect, and clearly made by hand. That personal touch is what makes people pick up a candle, and it’s why they keep it.

We made it for a yoga studio: a candle to light at the start of a class, or for the quiet moment at the end. We chose our After the Storm fragrance. It’s fresh and clean, like the air when you finally open the window after a long grey week. It felt like a new start, which also made it a good fit for the new year.

Step 1: Find the story, then the name

Before we touched a brush, we asked: what moment in a yoga class does this scent belong to? The answer was the very beginning, that first deep breath, like opening a window to cold, clean air.

That moment gave us the starting point, but we wanted a name that holds the whole practice, from that first breath to the final bow. So we went with the word that closes every class: Namaste.

Tip: Find the moment first, then the name. A name that tells a tiny story beats one that just describes the smell.

Step 2: Paint the feeling, not the thing

We didn't try to paint a window or a cloud. We painted the mood. A deep, foggy green at the top for the heavy, wet air, fading into a pale, almost empty bottom where the sky clears.

Once it was completely dry, we scanned it at a high resolution so the paper texture and the rough edges came through. That texture is half the charm, so don't clean it up too much.

Step 3: Build a label that lets the painting breathe

With the scan ready, we first checked the colours. If your scan doesn't look quite right, don't worry: you can always colour correct your painting afterwards. Deepen the green, warm up the paper, or brighten the whole thing until it matches what you had in mind. Then we put the label together. We kept it to four things and nothing else:

• The watercolour, big, at the top. It does most of the talking.
• The name, in tall, elegant capital letters right underneath. One strong line of type.
• Two main ingredients, small and simple, bottom left.
• The weight, 200g, bottom right, to balance it out.

We kept the fonts to two: a classic serif for the name, and a clean, simple font for the small details. More than two and it starts to look busy fast.

Tip: Print your label at actual size and stick it on the jar before you commit. Something that looks perfect on a screen can feel too crowded on a real candle.

Your turn: make it yours

The best part of a hand-painted label is that nobody can copy it. Your hand, your brushstrokes, your story. You don't need to be an artist; you just need to start.