I need black candles for a project of mine. I’ve been to a dozen chain stores, literally. I didn’t find ANY black candles.
Some of the clerks said they often have people looking for them, especially around Halloween.
I even checked a few alternative stores. They had black candles, but not of the pillar kind. More like floating black candles that you put in your bath tub, or those flat round candles you use for meditation.
To me, this is a rather significant finding. Black is one of the most basic colors around, yet we cannot find candles in that color.
What’s the reason behind this? Economic? Cultural? Health? WTF?
http://www.somaluna.com has black candles and it says “there’s nothing harder to find”. I think black candles are just out of fashion right now, if Martha Stewart featured them on the cover of her magazine, you’d find them turning up tout de suite.
Black is a really hard color to get into wax. Most “black” candles are really very dark purple, and it takes a lot of color to get 'em dark enough. Problem is, color messes up the way a candle burns; most black candles I’ve found burn very unevenly. So, between higher expense to make, less demand than other colors and lower than average costumer satisfaction, I expect it’s just not worth most retailer’s time to stock them.
Your best bet this time of year is mail order or internet. Then at Halloween, stock up.
I think people are justv really superstitious. Outside of Halloween, they’re really, really hard to find. Go to any new age store and you’ll find some. Or just google it, there’s thousands of websites that have them.
When I was a candlemaker, we poured all the junk wax into one put, put in a lot of black dye, and made black candles. Mostly pillars, we never made tapers. I think those are mostly machine made, and black is probably not real popular amongst taper fans.
There’s a “religious supply” store near my parents’ office that I swear is a front for a Santeria cult. I walked in there once and they have all kinds of herbs and scented oils, and candles in all colors, including black. This is because, based on what I’ve read about voudun and Santeria, which was many years ago, each spiritual entity (loas, gods, or whatever they’re called, I’m not sure) has its own corresponding color, and one needs to burn candles of that deity’s color when petitioning them. So if you live in one of the larger cities, there might be a botanica or other occult supply store where you can find black candles. Otherwise, try online.
It may not be a “front” so much as a shop offering supplies to people of many faiths–some “official” & some not. (Although most practitioners of Santeria, Voudoun, etc., are also Catholic.) Here in Texas, we have some specialty shops offering such items. (Hey, you might need some High John the Conqueror Root!) And colored candles are often available in the Latin American Product aisle of mainstream grocery stores.
For those who believe, black candles would not be burned casually.
But you can order them here. Around here, this isn’t a good season to buy candles through the mail. Not for any mystic reason–but they will melt in the heat.
Downside–very scented. Possibly the most scented candle I own. Fortunately, I like the scent, but it gave my mom headaches.
Chime candles are cheap and come in basically every color. They don’t burn for long, though–they’re only about 5" long. You can get some on Amazon.
ETA–oh, you asked why. I’d imagine that it’s because candles are usually chosen based upon their coordination with the decor, and very few decorating schemes incorporate black. And most of those that do incorporate white, which is way easier to make and to find. I’m sure there are some cultural things there, too, but I’d bet that if it were trendy, most people wouldn’t give a crap.
