Lachelle Borden’s Creations are On Fire

Lachelle Borden’s origin story is a painfully familiar one in 2021 America—she went to school for fashion and had every intention of becoming a creative; then life happened. She found herself splitting her time between a demanding 9-to-5 and being a mom, with no time left for creativity. 

Until one day, she got fed up with not creating, not pushing the needle forward on anything but work for someone else’s company. And she started to make candles. 

“I literally just woke up one day and said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna make some candles, and I’m gonna sell them,’” she says. “I went online for everything that I needed to get, and I just went from there. I started Googling different ideas like fruits and desserts, and that’s where I got the ideas for the ice cream, waffles and the Coke candle.”

Just a glance at her creations will tell you that Borden truly is an inspired soul when it comes to new, fresh ideas. Tons of folks have tried their hand at candle-making, some better than others, but her candles aren’t your typical, scented-and-colored delights. Instead, she makes concoctions that, from a distance, look exactly like food. So what’s the secret? 

“I use soy wax; I get a 10-pound ball, and then that goes in, like, a week because the candles take so much wax. As far as the colors go, I get crayons, just break them and unwrap them and throw them right in there. I have a burner in my basement, a little tin to make them in, and I get the bowls and cups from thrift stores.”

Starting out by playing with colors and crayons, which her children had in excess, she soon realized that, save the expense of the wax, she could thrift or improvise the rest and make the materials go far. She’s even used real cereal in her milk-and-cereal candle. From there, she kept creating, realizing this was now a viable way to generate income. 

“When I started, I didn’t have a plan. I was just like, ‘I’m just gonna sell these candles and make money.’ And of course, at first it doesn’t work that way, and there’s so much that goes into the design of each one. But I kept going.” 

Now that her business has taken off, her next dream is to open a fashion truck, a place where she can showcase both the clothing she makes and the candles. 

“My dream is just to have my kids with me and drive around the world selling clothes and candles,” Borden says. 

Look for Borden’s creations at fine art pop-ups across Denver.