Hi, I am Claire of Clandycottage. I am married with three grown up sons, now all married and we have four grandchildren.
I started my crafting journey many years ago with my husband in Zimbabwe, first making cards, soaps and other gifts for family and friends. We moved to England in 2008 where I dabbled in various crafts, mainly cardmaking and a bit of jewellery.
Then in late 2018 my husband had a stroke and had to retire from work. We began to craft in ernest with my husband doing more woodwork, and we started to sell at local craft fairs in 2019.
During lock down in 2020 I began to make my soy wax teacup candles, teacup pincushions and gonks (gnomes) from materials I had at home. Then in April 2021 we opened our Etsy shop and Clandycottage was born.
Unfortunately due to my husbands health deteriorating, he is no longer an active or productive part of Clandycottage, but he continues to support me.
Originally the main focus was making and selling gonks which were very successful for the first few years, then their popularity waned. After some research, thought and consideration, I decided to go more into making candles, not any old, candles, but pretty, fragrant, sustainable and eco friendly candles, which is where we are today. Each candle is made using soy wax in containers which can be washed and reused, whether they are old teacups, tins or teracotta pots.
So if you would like to find out more about us, follow us on facebook and instagram or visit our Etsy shop at https://clandycottage.etsy.com