Portrait of an Artist: Their bright idea: Eco-friendly candles

Making candles seems simple - wax, wick, fragrance, container, done.

But for Olivia Lotz and Liz MacDonald, creators of soy-candle company Melo Studios, it was also a matter of melting, molding, and mushrooming.

"One of the major problems was finding a 100 percent cotton wick," said Lotz, who lives in Swarthmore. "It would mushroom at the top, and even when you trimmed it, you'd hear these little popping noises."

Soy wax isn't the simplest medium, either.

"Sometimes it looks like a brain on top of the candle," said MacDonald. "Or it turns white or crystally looking, and you want it creamy and smooth."

The two met through Lotz's cousin, who took a trapeze class with MacDonald. They bonded over babies and stay-at-home stories.

They also shared an entrepreneurial spirit.

Lotz had spent a year making candles in her kitchen with her cousin, trying to start an at-home business. MacDonald had a background in marketing and a graphic-designer husband.

The two joined forces in early 2009. Barely a year later, they have a line of soy-based candles in eight local Whole Foods stores, specialty lines for two local salons, and a plan to expand - all from the attic, now covered in wax drippings, of MacDonald's house in Ardmore.

"I'm still kind of in shock, like, 'Is this really happening?' " MacDonald said.

The duo combined letters from their own and their daughters' names (MadelineElzieLizOlivia) to come up with Melo. Better than Elmo or Mole, they said.

After they moved into their "studio," the duo started working on a larger scale, using modified deep fryers as wax melters. They began scavenging thrift shops and garage sales for vintage glass containers.

And they played with scents including eucalyptus/peppermint and lemon verbena, their most popular. (Soy is an organic alternative to paraffin, which most candles are made from, and has no odor, unlike beeswax, so it works better with different fragrances.)

They got their big break last summer while doing a craft fair held by Whole Foods on South Street for First Friday. It turned out the Whole Foods buyer was looking for a locally sourced, eco-friendly candle.

"There was this torrential downpour and my daughter was 6 months old," said MacDonald, "so I'm trying to get her in the car and Olivia is trying to save the sign and the candles, when this guy comes out and says, 'The buyer wants to meet you.' "

Once they got on the shelves of one Whole Foods, others in the region started calling. Now Melo is in eight stores, including Devon, Wynnewood, Plymouth Meeting, and Marlton, N.J., with prices ranging from $8 to $22.

"It's overwhelming. It's so exciting," said Lotz. "We'll have to rent a larger space and hire people to help us. We worked really hard on branding the candles and making something that was the exact product we wanted."

The two work together three times a week - two for pouring, one for computer work. They brainstorm. They argue. And then they compromise.

"I always felt two heads were better than one," said MacDonald. "We have very different tastes. I'll like one thing, and Olivia will think it's kind of gross. We figure we have the spectrum covered."

They plan on expanding into more Whole Foods stores - it's a just a matter of time and paperwork, they say. And they're hoping to do more custom orders, whether it's creating a personal scent for wedding favors or making a vintage glass container series.