The Story of the Paschal Candles at St. Juan Diego

As some of you may know, Roger and I create the Paschal Candle used at St. Juan Diego Church each year. This is a very collaborative effort for us and I thought some might be interested in the whole process of how the candle is created and where the design comes from. You will not find another candle like ours as it is truly one of a kind in its design. Roger is responsible for making the candle and I come up with the design and then we work together to bring that design to life. That is what we are doing... bringing the light to life.

Over the next few days I will chronicle the first 4 Paschal Candles (2005-2008). I will also go into some more detail about the inspiration for this year's candle (hint: this is the pilgrimage blog).

The design for the first year's candle (2005) was a simple painted cross with blue bands. I found this image out in google land and really liked it. This was the first year for us to make the candle so to some degree we were in uncharted water and were happy that it turned out as well as it did. I used acrylic paint with a candle medium mixed in about 50-50. Painting on a waxy surface is not the easiest thing to do. The wax tends to resist the paint. Painting intricate details would be near impossible so the design needs to be somewhat simple... until I master the technique.

Here is a picture of the first paschal candle we ever made. That is Fr. Adam Gonzales, OCD (then Brother Adam) holding the candle before it is about to be dipped into the baptismal pool.