Logan Slaughter is hard at work creating another round of his handcrafted candles, hoping they can inspire joy and remind customers to find the light at the end of the tunnel as they once did for him.

" I was a performer in New York City in Fire Island for 15 years, and my husband and I were in the adoption process," he said. "It was a tumultuous process… a lot of ups and downs. I lost my mother. My father was sick with stage four cancer… There [were] some really dark times, and I got sober during that process. I just needed to remind myself that there's light at the end of every dark time."

To find that light, Slaughter turned to his love of candles, eventually becoming a candle maker and creating his shop, Radiant Light Candle Co.

" I was not always a candle maker, but I was always a candle buyer," he explained. " I believe in having the best quality product with ingredients that were safe around my daughter when she was born. That was most important to me because I gave up enough to have a child. I wasn't going to give up having candles as well. So, I wanted to be able to burn candles from day one when we brought her home, and I did...You don't really realize what's in a lot of products until you dive into it. I also didn't realize that I was going to be a chemist until I started making candles because every single one is its own formula."

As he perfected those chemistry skills, Slaughter says meeting customers has been the ultimate highlight throughout this journey.

"I try to establish relationships with my customers," he said. "I know their names when I see them. It's very important for me, and I love having conversations with people."

As Radiant Light Candle Co. continues to help him through grief and healing, Slaughter adds it has also helped other customers along the way.

"My initial collection is named after [people like] my mom, my mother-in-law [and] my father," he said. "It's a story. So, that invites conversation with people and makes people realize there's a deeper thing here than just making candles... People come out and say, ‘Oh, what's Mary?’ And I'm like, ‘Oh, it's my mom.’ That invites the conversation of my mom passed, and then that someone else's mom passed…Sometimes people haven't had that conversation, and they feel so comfortable in that moment to have that conversation with you…I think that sets me apart a bit from other makers."

Slaughter's candles can be bought on Radiant Light Candle Co.'s website or at local craft fairs throughout the region. In the near future, he will be making appearances at the Nyack Craft Fair on May 18 and July 13.