We were lucky to catch up with Tay Ashcraft recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tay, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I taught myself how to make candles actually with just lots of trial and error. I had looked up a few blogs that gave some super beginner tips but after that it was all self taught. At the time of teaching myself how to make candles, I was also dividing my creative energy towards many other outlets that I was also creating. It would have definitely sped up my learning process if I had focused solely making candles. The skill that I think has been most crucial is being patient. Candles can turn out awful if you try to rush the process.

Tay, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

This business started about 8 years ago and it actually didn’t start with candles! I was coming out of an incredibly hard phase in my life, my mental health was not great and I needed something to keep my hands and mind busy as I went on this healing journey. On a trip with my family I saw a dream catcher at a shop and thought that I could make that! I taught myself how to weave them and over time had people asking me to make some for them. That’s where this business started. It has completely evolved over the years. Becoming a single mom really changed my perspective on how to turn my craft into an actual business. I had been making candles just on the side every now and then but it wasn’t my main goal until I had my son. I really started to see my strength lied in creating unique blends of scents for candles. And so I let go of all of the other avenues of creativity I was trying to make and focused on making the best candles possible. Over the years I’ve become known for how beautiful my candles are. I use herbs, crystals, flowers and other items to adorn my candles into tiny pieces of artwork. This, I believe, is really what sets my candles apart from others. I put so much love into making sure each candle is as beautiful as it smells good. I love creating unique blends of scents that you wouldn’t find at a big box store. One of the things I’m most proud of is how my company is a representative to standing up against the stigma of mental health. A percentage of every purchase goes to To Write Love On Her Arms, which is a non profit organization that promotes mental health awareness. This is to both honor my own journey in mental health but to also honor my brother who we lost to suicide in 2020. Alongside that one of the other things I’m most proud of is all the collaborations with other local small businesses, artists and also authors nationwide. I’ve been able to help bring their art, book characters or shops to life with my candles and it’s been so incredibly fulfilling making these connections with other creative souls.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think one of the most important things we can do to support artists and creatives is to show up. And by that I mean be their biggest cheerleaders. Show up to their events, markets, gallery openings. Take your friends. Share on your social media because that’s HUGE for us. A lot of us don’t have a giant marketing budget so anytime someone shares our work, that can make all the difference. Even if you can’t financially support there are so many opportunities to just show up for those artists that you love.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me the most rewarding part of being a creative is hearing how my candles affect my customers. For some a scent can bring them back to a favorite time in their life, remind them of a special memory. For some my candles bring a sense of comfort and peace. It’s knowing that all across the world there are people loving something I created is still mind blowing to me. It’s truly an honor to be able to create things that people want in their safe spaces.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.fullmooncreations.net
• Instagram: @full_mooncreations