The Role of Repetition in Building Craft Confidence

Repetition in craft candle making often gets a bad rap as being “boring” but it is one of the keys to confidence. Every time you measure, melt, pour and finish you learn a little bit more than the time before and you become that much more comfortable with the process. Your actions become less clumsy, your decision making time shortened and you begin to act with less indecision. That’s not to say you become less creative because of it. In fact you have more freedom to be creative because you have a solid foundation to operate from.

Repetition makes you more sensitive to subtle changes. You will begin to notice the difference a few degrees in temperature make or the difference an hour less of cooling time has. Things that seemed random will start to make sense and you will be able to adjust them sooner in the process rather than later. You will become more confident because you will have the knowledge and the ability to do something about it.

Repetition takes the sting out of failure. When you repeat the same action enough times you won’t take it so personally when things don’t go right. An ugly surface or a poor burn will just be another iteration in your journey to craft the perfect candle. You will learn to approach each melt as an experiment and an opportunity to try again. With time you will gain confidence in the process which will give you the confidence to take risks.

Repetition gives you peace of mind. The mere fact that you know what you’re doing because you’ve done it so many times before frees your mind up to pay attention to the details. You will gain confidence because you will know you can repeat it whenever you want.

Repetition is what turns your craft into a hobby and your hobby into a business. It’s the means by which you will learn to craft a candle. It’s the way you will gain the confidence you desire. So don’t be afraid to repeat the same process over and over again. That’s where the magic happens.