Meet Erica Kyker | Owner-Artist of Honeywolf Mercantile

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erica Kyker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erica, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Like many people, the pandemic changed me. Being at home completely altered my life trajectory. That experience changed my entire thought process and approach to work, and how I want to earn a living. Within the first few months of the pandemic, I realized rather quickly that I was physically, mentally, and spiritually burned out from working nearly 20 years in the film industry. While I absolutely loved my career as a successful makeup artist for film and television for many years, when 2020 hit and everything came to a grinding halt, I knew in my heart that I didn’t want to go back to working in film. The hours are brutal, extended sleep deprivation is dangerous, and the physical strain of the job has done a number on my health. I’ll be honest, this was a terrifying realization because there is no roadmap to changing careers at my age! The terror turned to excitement as soon as I started teaching myself how to make candles.

Honeywolf Mercantile was born out of hours and hours of alchemy and product tests in my non-climate controlled garage. Research and development is crucial when starting a new business. Working in solitude was a comfort to me because of my background as a visual artist, and in special effects makeup-spending hours in the fx lab when I was younger. Working with new mediums such as soy wax, fragrance, and dye proved to be artistically rewarding! Sure, my first batches may not have cured properly, or burned correctly but that is what trial and error is for. I can’t stress this enough for anyone who is starting a new business: Be patient with yourself! You’re learning something new, and you want to develop a competitive product that you can be proud of. Simply put, this takes time and work. This may come as a surprise but the candlemaking community isn’t exactly forthcoming with information. I enjoy a challenge so I didn’t view this as an impediment to success. After developing my own formula, I know exactly why they’re not freely giving away their techniques, and I guard mine the same way. I outgrew my garage within a few months, and my husband and I have created a beautiful, climate controlled workshop above the garage. It is truly my happy place.

Another thought process behind starting my own business was my personal desire to create a clean-burning candle that we could enjoy in our home, or on my various altars. I am a bonafide candle addict and spiritual practitioner but I was having trouble finding a brand of candles that I loved. After doing a ton of research, I learned that most candles on the market are not what we call “clean burning”. Most scented candles have added industrial “forever chemicals” called Phthalates. When ignited, and with prolonged exposure, Phthalates cause liver and kidney damage, and Phthlalates are hormone interrupters. Sadly, once you start looking deeper, you will find these forever chemicals in many products. I am happy to report that you will not find any Phthalates in our candles! When I say “clean burning”, please know that we mean it. I also use only organic grade soy wax, and vegetable based dyes. You won’t find any petroleum or animal based ingredients in Honeywolf Mercantile products.

The spiritual aspect of starting my own business is closest to my heart. From the start, my goal has been to introduce my customers to alternative methods of spirituality such as ancestral veneration, rootwork, manifesting, and moon magic. I’ve been a student and practitioner of Southern Conjure, Rootwork, and Hoodoo for 30 years. This unfortunately sounds scary to many people because of basic misunderstanding and misrepresentation of any spiritual practice outside the norm. I want to empower my customers by normalizing the creation of altars, or sacred spaces within the home. In a world full of distractions, we all need a place to clear our minds, and get in touch with our inner voice, spirit guides, and ancestors. I have such a wide variety of candles, all with unique spiritual meanings, that I truly believe there is something for everyone on our website. From spiritual protection, energy clearing, abundance drawing to moon meditation, we can manifest positive changes in our lives if we are open to it! When we honor our own natural rhythms, and the natural rhythms of the earth, magic happens. I am here to teach what I know but to also continue learning and expanding so that I can help others find their way, too.

All in all, embarking on a new career has it’s challenges but ultimately if you believe in yourself and in your product, and you surround yourself with people who have your best interests at heart, it is one of the most amazing adventures in life!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a natural born artist. I’ve been a maker and creator for as long as I can remember, and I’ve worn many artistic hats throughout my life. If the endeavor is artistic, I’ve probably done it. Whether it’s painting, writing, modeling, theatre acting, singing, playing in bands, or doing makeup, I’ve done it all. What I love about making candles is I get to combine so many of my interests and apply my artistic eye for each of my creations. A lot of thought and intention goes into each candle. I generally start with a scent combination but not always. I go from there by choosing a color based on how the scent makes me feel. I also take the spiritual meaning into deep consideration when I’m developing a candle. If the candle represents open roads or abundance, I choose green dye for the wax, and I hand select scents and herbs that also symbolize money or prosperity. This is known within the spiritual community as Sympathetic Magic, or The Law of Similarity. Without giving away any of my candlemaking secrets, I utilize certain magical or conjure techniques along with color therapy and aromatherapy. I grow a lot of the herbs, roots, and flowers right here on our property that I dress the candles with. Once the leaves fall, and the thorny brambles die back in Autumn and Winter, I take walks through the wooded area behind our home for inspiration. I always take my basket with me in case I spy a sacred plant that I can use on my candles.

By honoring the natural surroundings of our property, I am given gifts from nature in return. I think living just outside the perimeter of Atlanta, encompassed by trees and wildlife, has guided my candlemaking process more than anything. I feel so lucky to live here. After living in bustling cities like Los Angeles and New Orleans most of my adult life, our property is like living in a fairy tale world! I want my customers to open the lid of my candles and be transported to that fairy tale world. Many of my customers have told me they don’t like to burn my candles right away because they’re “too pretty”, but also the scents are so potent, the candle serves as potpourri. I don’t mind hearing that because open flame simply isn’t convenient sometimes! I have quite a few customers who are makeup artists and hairstylists in the film business, and they like to keep their Honeywolf Mercantile candles on their stations. Wherever my customers want to keep their candles, and however they want to enjoy them, I don’t mind as long as they keep coming back for more-and they do! It brings me so much joy to not only thoughtfully create my candles but to send them off to my customers. I enjoy all aspects of running my own business because the bottom line for me is about spreading joy and empowerment through my products. It makes me feel really good when people tell me they are obsessed with my candles, or when they give them as gifts. Sharing the love, magic, and art is what it’s all about!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First, I would introduce my visitors to the largest metaphysical store in the South, Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore in Sandy Springs. Phoenix & Dragon offers a wide variety of spiritual goods and services like candles, crystals, jewely, books, and tarot card decks. Guests can get an in-house spiritual consultation with my friend and colleague, Darren BuCare, and Phoenix & Dragon is the only store in Atlanta that carries Honeywolf Mercantile candles! Next, we’d go to the Little Five Points neighborhood. I’m a fan of Savage Pizza and Junkman’s Daughter in Little Five Points. I enjoy an artistic area like L5P with tons of unique shops, bars, and restaurants, because it is also walkable! Being that Atlanta is the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement with so much powerful history, The King Center is a must see. There are so many interesting things to do in Atlanta yet I feel like I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface! We moved to Atlanta from New Orleans about 7 years ago. Before the pandemic, I spent the first 5 years on film sets around the state of Georgia, and saw some incredible sights. One of my favorite places to film was the historic Fox Theatre because it is architecturally stunning and quite haunted.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate my shoutout to my incredibly supportive husband, Rick. We’ve been married for almost 10 years, and Rick has always been my biggest fan. He helps me develop new ideas by being an honest sounding board, and without his help, I wouldn’t have been able to upgrade my workshop or launch the website so fast! I must shoutout my mother-in-law, Patty, for building our gorgeous website which is truly a labor of love. Of course, a big shoutout to my loyal customer base who’ve been with me since I first started making candles in 2020, before we even had a website! Launching a new business definitely takes a village, and I’m extremely grateful for mine.

Website: HoneywolfMercantile.com

Instagram: @honeywolfmercantile

Facebook: Honeywolf Mercantile