Owls, angels and Shar Pei dogs sit happily beside elephants, seahorses and cute looking pigs. Well, in Debbie Button’s West Parley workshop they do.

At first glance they all resemble well-carved little statues. But look closer and you see that each and every one of them is a candle; exquisitely carved, beautifully painted and ready to be burned.

Although, reckons Debbie, not many of them are. “I know that people collect them and I’m told that many owners can’t bear to burn them,” she says.

You can see why; the idea of setting fire to the wick on the jolly elephant or the sleeping baby seems a bit mean. And who would even consider burning the foot long, iridescent green dragon that is proudly displayed on the shelves? Although you get the feeling Debbie would have been happy to do that to the pink one she created.

“I’m not sure about pink for dragons,” she says.

She started her business during the 1990s after buying a candle making kit.

“Then a friend of mine was opening a shop and asked if I wanted to put the candles in the window to see how they did so I took her up on it and the candles started selling.”

After working at home for a year perfecting her craft, Debbie was asked by one customer if she could create an elephant candle for her daughter’s birthday cake.

“I sourced one and did and it started off from there,” she says.

Although she does use some pre-made designs, she has also created a number herself, such as the angel she carved from plaster of Paris from which to create a rubber mould, complete with tiny curls and even toenails.

Working with another candle-maker she moved into a space at Stapehill Abbey, making dipped candles, a method that goes back to the medieval era.

Candles are thought of as decorative accessories now but they were a vital source of light in the past and Debbie was delighted to discover that her great great uncle Charles performed this important job.

“There’s a hundred years between us but you can feel that connection,” she says.

Debbie can’t say how many candles she’s made over her working life but, on a good day, can make up to 60, although painting and finishing can take longer and she has her assistant, Mel, and her parents who help with this.

She has made a whole swathe of accurate dog candles; her owls are very popular and the tiny teddies do a roaring trade for birthday cakes.

Her customers include the Crufts dog show, golf clubs and the Earl Spencer, who commissioned a collection of poinsettia-shaped candles for a lunch in memory of his late sister, Princess Diana. However, Debbie has turned down a couple of ruder requests!

Her top sellers include the bears and the elephants although she has made dinosaurs and her own favourite is the Christmas tree, which sells year-round.

“I made a load the other day and just put them out to see but they’re already going,” she says.

Of all her candles, she says, these are the ones which tend to get burned. “I think people don’t like to do it to the rest.”

She believes she is the only candle maker of her description in the country, even though her candles turn up all over the world.

Not bad for someone who was told by a former boss that she didn’t pay enough attention to detail.

“I think that probably served me well,” she says, modestly.

  • The Serendipity Candle Company is at Plowmans Garden Centre, West Parley