Dietrich & Wong
$22.00
Inspired by Shanghai Express, a refreshing, spicy floral fragrance transports by rail; to times past, and thrilling adventures. Heady notes of ginger and creamy tonka for sparkle and danger, light notes of tuberose and greens for mystery, and anchored with sensuous amber and sandalwood.
Do not burn candles for more than 4 hours at a time.
You should never leave your candle unattended. Keep away from children and pets.
DO NOT burn candles while cleaning. Kitchen sprays may contain volatile and flammable compounds. Even some essential oil cleaners contain solvents and preservatives that are flammable.
Top hats to white hats
Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong fashioned their celebrity by pushing for humanitarian causes in an age of standing down. Romping together in Berlin’s cabaret culture clad in top hats and appearing later together in Shanghai Express, it was clear these women were standouts. In her early years in Berlin, Deitrich was the only woman allowed in gay bars. She loved drag and epitomized androgyny. Off screen she sizzled, reacting to an alliance sought by Hitler by renouncing her German citizenship, seeing fascism as the ultimate threat of expression. As a third generation American, Wong grew up with the racist dictates of the Chinese Exclusion Act in the US – and even later so well known for her work, was still forced to carry identification papers to prove her citizenship. Hayes Code miscegenation limited the types of roles she could play, losing to white actresses with taped eyes and yellowface, only to play supporting roles as vixens or murderous criminals. She pushed to improve the Chinese image, refusing offensive and stereotypical roles and eventually garnered international acceptance for her work.
Dietrich was most proud of her US war efforts selling war bonds, performing and visiting injured servicemen and contributing the entirety of her proceeds from Knight Without Armor to Jewish refugees escaping Germany. For all the injustice Wong faced in the doubt of her citizenship and her talents, she became a trailblazer as the first female Asian actress with stage, broadway and tv credits. Feeling deeply for her countrymen after the Japanese invasion of China, she supported the Chinese-American war effort, using her prominence to raise awareness with fundraising events during the war years. We can only guess what progress could have been made had Wong not died so young, but she set the first rung for so many to climb after her. She was positioned at the right time in history to give voice to the people of China, especially as sentiments softened towards Chinese Americans following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And it’s difficult to know how many people Dietrich was able to extricate from her country. She was awarded the French Légion d’honneur, the American Medal of Freedom, and later the Israeli Medallion of Valor.
Light this candle and tip your top hat to fierce white hats — past present and future.
Upcycling is so chic
Using wood wicks gives one more life to old fruit trees. (Read more in Impact below).
Formulation
Our hand-poured, custom beeswax blend has been a true labor of love. After years of testing and refining our formula, we’ve designed our natural candles to burn as evenly and as cool throughout the life of the candle while boasting a strong scent. We use pure triple-filtered beeswax sourced from a cooperative of US apiaries. Soy and coconut aid in fragrance distribution and compliment the beeswax beautifully.
Wooden wicks may take a little more effort on first light. Once there is some charring on the wood subsequent lightings are easier. Matches are very effective tilting the candle at an angle so the flame can reach across the width of the wick. A rechargeable lighter can be equally helpful.
We recommend burning for 3-4 hours on the first burn. Unlike paraffin and parasoy which are softer waxes, Beeswax is much harder, with a high melting point that simply requires more time. You do not need (and likely will not see) a full melt pool across the top. We believe this rule of thumb has been passed down from paraffin based candles which do burn much faster. You will likely see wax on the edges of the glass referred to as “hang up” for the first few lights. This is normal and expected. The hang up will meet the base of the wax on the next couple lights as the glass warms. We have designed our blend (with a game of averages) to burn cooler throughout. This ensures less sooting and no wild flame or hot glass when oxygen decreases low in the jar. Max burn intervals should be 3-4 hours at a time.
Trim wick between burns. Before lighting each time, trim the wick by snapping at its natural point. This will feel like too much and may feel like a mistake as wooden wicks should be much shorter than cotton wicks. You can snap the wick between your fingers, with scissors, or as we prefer and super unglamorous, needle nose pliers. You can grab, snap and carry off the charred wood without dropping fragments in your candle the way wick cutters can.
Keep away from drafts.
Keep wax as clean as possible. This is not just for aesthetics, but this ensures a clean burn.
When ¾” remains at the bottom of the glass, a safety feature has been designed into the wick clip to prevent overheating. It is harder to light again easily. By stopping just before this point for your last burn it will be easier to light or switch it over to a candle warmer. A bit of a learning curve from the shallow clips used for cotton wicks.
Our Care Guide offers some tips and tricks. We thoroughly test…and test…and test again, but if you need help, please contact us.
We chose wooden wicks as much for their delightful crackle as an upcycled product. As fruit trees come to their end of life, it is the traditional practice of burning these trees in situ. Every bit of wood we can remove from this practice to provide something useful and provide comfort and joy is worth the effort.
While we’d love to tout “all-natural” as many claim, with all waxes there is energy and resources used to produce a final product. To farm, there’s still gas used to till, harvest and transport. To extract the wax, significant energy is used. Beeswax is the most ideal as it is a pretty nearly finished form, designed by bees. Beeswax does not go through any chemical change. Pure beeswax like ours is filtered and unadulterated. Our beeswax comes from pesticide-free farms in the US. It is not imported where it is often bleached (which does change the chemical structure), and it is away from any oversight that might otherwise regulate contaminants and additives. Not only do we avoid it for that reason, we can lessen our footprint by buying as geographically local as possible in the US. Ask any small apiarian (beekeeper) and they tell you they just “love their girls”. We use a 100% soy product and unrefined coconut to help lower the melting point. Both are processed plant based products that are considered safe, clean burning waxes. Plant based products require energy and produce waste. While there is an argument for all 3 products as monoculture industries, it would be difficult to find a polyculture solution otherwise.
The argument for bees and beeswax is the argument for supporting our pollinators and the subsequent food chain. Honey bees (while not native) is the poster child for all pollinators because of the research and embrace of their colonies. The truth is, without bees (and we’re very partial to the native bees we have in Satis Garden), we would not have food. Full stop. Supporting small businesses that care about their bees and harvest humanely as ours do, does far more to promote the cause than striking them entirely. This keeps an interest and pushes for research for all our pollinators which are in decline. Reducing pesticides, supporting initiatives like Homegrown National Park supporting native, keystone species and buying only what you need are great ways to do more on a small level.
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