When BOOM! Studios reached out to us about making a series of candles for their comic books, we were really excited to take on a new type of scent creation.

Designing The Scents

After some brainstorming with the Marketing team over at BOOM, we decided to start with candles for The Seasons Have Teeth and the kaiju-like monsters that represent each of the four seasons. Once we knew where to focus our energy we were able to use the amazing monster art done by Sebastián Cabrol and Sebastián Fiumara to give us our inspiration. We knew that each candle had to be unique to the monster, but that the entire set should play well together as they are pieces of one cycle. And of course, the candles needed to smell great too! For the actual process we sat down with Amanda Lawson from the BOOM! team and played with different scent combinations until we felt like the candles met all of our criteria. 

Spring

We started with the first monster, Spring, that appears in issue #1. In The Seasons Have Teeth, Spring is not a season of gentle flowers but of wild growth. We chose a blend of vetiver, chamomile and earth that brings to mind rampant growth and freshly wet earth.

Summer

For Summer we wanted to highlight the smoke and destruction inherent in the art but also the sheer energy and potential of the season. We came first to hickory to give us the smoky note of burning wood, eucalyptus for the brightness of Summer, and sandalwood to ground the scent. 

Autumn

Autumn was one of the more difficult scents but we knew we wanted to avoid the cozy autumn vibes of a traditional fall candle. Instead we leaned into the falling of leaves and the dry decay of the season using a blend of cedar, patchouli and saffron.

Winter

 Winter was fun to build; we used pine for the evergreens of the season, petrichor for the wet of snow and sleet, and a hint of peppermint for a surprising zing. Balancing those three scents together created a candle that actually smells cold. All together the candles are unique but complimentary.

Finishing Touches

Unlike when we make a candle in house we had art already to draw from for the labels. We decided to feature each of the monsters on the lid while bringing to mind a comic panel for the side label. The candles were poured, labeled, and packed here at Cantrip then they went off to BOOM so that their team could add marketing materials and send them off to the lucky recipients.

This collaboration pushed us to consider different ways to create a candle scent, and as an added bonus we got to read a really wonderful story about change, destruction, and redemption. Our heartfelt thanks to the BOOM team for reaching out and making this collaboration such a unique experience. 

While you can't purchase these candles in stores, you can enjoy scents from similar families like Sanctuary, Stonemoss Chapel, and Mountaintop

The Seasons Have Teeth is published by BOOM! Studios. 

Created by Dan Watters and Sebastián Carrol 

Written by Dan Watters 

Illustrated by Sebastián Cabrol 

Colored by Dan Jackson

Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot

Cover art by Qistina Khalidah