The "Field of Dreams" quotation, "If you build it, they will come," does not apply to all entrepreneurs who have what they believe to be great ideas for products consumers will love.

Shinil Quilty found out at her first craft fair, however, that the soy candles into which she poured much experimentation, her experience with fragrant oils and her love for people were in fact, a hit. Her candles sold out.

"It was a surprise," she said.

At the Coconut Festival on Kauai, "everyone loved my candles," and it blew her mind, she said.

Instead of paraffin-based candles that can generate black soot, she makes soy-based candles, which she says are healthier. Paraffin candles also can leave a great amount of waste, as the whole candle doesn’t melt, but "natural soy is softer and more beautiful than paraffin candles and burn three times longer," she said. And, "the entire container burns," she said, referring to the scented, candles-in-tins she sells. The container itself, of course, does not burn.

It had simply been a hobby for her, as she worked alongside her husband, Brian, in his real estate business, but after deciding she wanted to do her own thing and took a chance at craft fair sales, customers responded.

She registered Shinil Candle & Soap with the state nearly two years ago.

"My clientele is mostly tourists," she said, though since her product lines have expanded, local people also buy her products, including the friends who protested that she had been simply giving them her all-natural, 100 percent olive oil soaps for so long.

"It was my hobby," but her friends wanted to start buying the soap, she said.

The olive oil soap she started selling five months ago is good for all skin types and for babies, and some customers have told her it helped to clear up their eczema.

The olive oil soaps take eight weeks to make, she said. "Even the wrapping paper is handmade," she said. She gets the paper from another artisan, despite husband Brian’s observation that the paper is too expensive. While acknowledging that it is a bit expensive, "I put my heart into this soap. The wrapping needs to be special," she said.

She started out with six fragrances and has built up her line to 25, all named for inspirations taken from her life.

"All the names are about Hawaii," she said.

Ohana Spirit, for example, was named after she ran out of money at a farmers market. She wanted to buy a "beautiful pineapple" from a vendor she was talking with, "and she goes, Take it. It’s the ohana spirit, I trust you. You can bring the money next week,’" Quilty said. "That day I went home (with the pineapple) and blended (aromatic) oil for that woman, of that feeling. Each candle has a story behind it," even Rooster Dance, which has an earthy smell with vanilla notes, and was named after roosters that made her laugh one day.

She shares the stories behind the fragrances with clientele because "it’s very important to me to interact with the customers."

"Customers are the future of my business," she said. "When I go to a craft fair, I stand there not thinking about making dollars. Customers teach me all the time about the fragrances, so I always thank them even if they don’t buy," she said. "That helps me. Experience always teaches something," she said.

Candles sell for $14 to $17 at retail, and soaps are $10, though if you find her at a craft fair, you also will find lower prices.

Quilty’s products include lip balms and facial clays for masques that she sells only via her website, which she built herself.

She is working with a photographer to update her site with new photos and adding an events calendar so people can find her at upcoming craft fairs.

Aside from a helper, the business has been a one-woman operation, but as she has landed retail accounts using her experience as a buyer for the grocery industry in California, business is picking up.

"Now I can hire somebody" to assist with her website, for instance. It is also handy that her husband is a certified public accountant.

Also on her to-do list is to make deals with retailers in Honolulu, which is likely to occur during the Made in Hawaii Festival this August. She was an exhibitor for the first time at last year’s event and will use that experience to make this year’s appearance even more successful, she said.

In the meantime she and her helper can handle two craft fairs on the same day, such as May 3 events at Kauai Community College in Puhi and at All Saints’ Episcopal Church and Preschool in Kapaa; May 10 events at the Kauai Veterans Center and May Day by the Bay in Hanalei; and a May 17 Artisan Faire in Poipu.

New products Quilty is developing include aromatic bath salts and so-called bath bombs, which are slightly smaller than a tennis ball, are intended to turn any bath into a luxurious indulgence and are "very difficult to make in Hawaii because of the humidity," she said. "I know because I failed several times" in trying to make them, "but I finally figured it out."

A hot item on the mainland, bath bombs are uncommon in Hawaii.

Quilty is seeking to differentiate herself from other crafters of bath and body items. "I’m always looking for something new. I don’t want (to offer) what other people have," she said. "People are looking for hard-to-get" items, and she hopes to sate those desires while pouring her passion into her business.

"I’m having fun with it and enjoy that other people are enjoying it," she said.

WHERE TO BUY

Shinil Candle & Soap
P.O. Box 763
Lawai, Hawaii 96765
635-0079 
shinilcandlesoap@gmail.com 

Kauai retailers (selling soap, candles or both)

>> Koloa Rum Co., Lihue
>> Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club, Koloa
>> Papayas Natural Foods & Cafe 
>> Robin Savage Gifts and Gourmet Hanalei 
>> Vim N Vigor, Lihue

“Buy Local” runs on Aloha Fridays. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.