Content Warning: This article contains discussions of suicide. THE BUSINESS CRANKY CANDLE started the night Ian “Cranky” Korleski received a call from the Santa Fe (New Mexico) Sheriff’s Department. He didn’t know it yet, but his life was about to change. “I got this voicemail on my phone from the sheriff’s department,” Korleski said. “It was this female, and she said something about my mom, that something was wrong with her.” When Korleski called the sheriff’s department back, they told him there wasn’t a female deputy working that night, and it was likely a prank. Korleski tried to reach his mom but couldn’t. He worried, even though it wasn’t unusual for her to take some time to call him back. A few days later, the sheriff’s department called Korleski again. It was not a prank. His mother had taken her life. Korleski knew he needed to find a way through the pain. “I had a bunch of trauma I had to deal with,” he said. What came next wasn’t a business plan. It wasn’t even a conscious choice. He was just a man who needed something to fight against, and Korleski found it in wax, frequency, and fire. “The coping turned into a business,” Korleski said. “I used it as my therapy.” There was no grand intention at first. “It was a drive that I can’t explain. It was just like, do this, and I don’t know why,” Korleski said. In 2021, Korleski traveled to New Mexico to take care of his mother’s earthly possessions. He felt it was his final duty as her son. Through processing his grief, Korleski said he found inspiration to take his candle-making to another level. “I ran to it, and I made candle-making as hard as I possibly fucking could on myself,” Korleski said. “I started doing intricate stuff and trying to carve stuff. And my hands are unsteady, but I found I can do certain things with wax.” Initially, Korleski gave his candles away as gifts to friends Korleski works with highquality soy wax and is experimenting with beeswax for more intricate pieces, mixing and layering colors. A selection of Ian Korleski’s Cranky Candles shows the variety and intricacy of his work. 10 COMMUNITY PROFILE
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