Donald MacKinnon is the Candle Guy and sells his amazing candles on Artfire.com. I chose to feature him due to his unique history and how he came to be making candles.
He is a retired principle engineer and a Vietnam Veteran. While in Vietnam he was assigned to the 170th Assault Helicopter Company, where he served as crew chief on a "huey". In the picture below, that is Donald on the far left.
After retiring and moving to Florida, he became extremely ill resulting in a permanent disability. Because of Agent Orange exposure while in Vietnam, he suffers from chronic pain due to Peripheral Neuropathy and a host of other problems. Candle making has allowed him a distraction, enabling him to manage his pain issues more effectively.
His candle making began in 2004 making some hand-dipped tappers, which he sold at a local farm. From there, he moved to his first online venue, Ebay. He eventually moved from Ebay to Etsy, then to Artfire.com as his main selling venue.
He uses the 3 inch diameter X 4 1/2 inches tall pillar candle as his flagship product because he feels this size candle gives the customer the most product for their dollar. It is a good size for shipment using the priority mail 2-3 day system offered by the United States Postal Service.
Another extremely important detail is that Donald has a special deal for ALL 170 th Assault Helicopter Company Vietnam Vets. If any of these vets purchase 6 candles of the 3 in dia. X 4.5 inches tall variety, he will pay the shipping. This deal will last forever because they are family.
He has an outdoor studio where he works most days on his candles. From this vantage point, he is entertained by the local feathered residents of his neighborhood while he works. Perhaps some of their beautiful colors has inspired some of his beautiful designs. His store "Candles by Donald" is open all the time, and is easy to get to at http://www.candleguy821.artfire.com
Stop by Donald's shop site, grab a cup of tea or coffee and explore his delightful candles. You won't disappointed.
4 comments:
Such beautiful candles...with a story that grabs at the heart strings. I definitely will be going to "The Candle Guy" site.
Trish, I have to share a "funny" with you this morning. I am printing customer paid receipts as I write this post. I have my speakers turned down very low. I heard the beautiful music coming from your blog and thought to myself, "How do I hear the music from the church way out here? Could it be the clear cold morning air allowing it to float this way?" LOL!!!
I need more coffee apparently!
Lovely write up of a lovely guy.
Trish, if you add a Tweet this button to your blog it makes it so much easier to tweet the posts. (Or did I mess it?)
Linda, I have not figured out how to add a retweet button, otherwise I would! I've tried several times without success.
If you have any suggestions on how to do that here on blogger, I'd be happy to find out.
Trish, thank you, somehow I missed this article. Please accept my apologies for a thank you that is long overdue. You did a wonderful job, makes me a little, well you know,choked up to think that some one would write such nice things about me. Thank you so much
Donald
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