A reading corner does not need to be large. We have seen the finest corners made of only a chair set beside a window, a lamp with warm light, and a small table just big enough for a glass of water. What makes that corner is not its area but the fact that you always sit in exactly that spot each evening.
The candle enters this story at the end, once everything else is in place. It gives the corner a second point of light, soft and moving, and it gives your nose a signal that now is the time to read. After about two weeks you will find yourself opening the book sooner, because your mind has recognised what that scent means.
Three things that build a reading corner
First is the seat. A chair your back can rest against and your legs sit comfortably in will keep you there longer than a beautiful chair that tires you. We still believe that function makes most of the beauty of an object in the home, and a reading chair is the clearest example.
Second is light. A lamp with warm light, set diagonally behind your shoulder, shining down onto the page rather than into your eyes. Warm light eases the eyes in the evening, and it also goes with candlelight very naturally.
Third, and only then, is scent. Put the candle jar on the small table beside you or on a nearby bookshelf, about an arm's length from where you sit and slightly out of your line of sight. At that distance the scent comes to you in gentle waves, and the flame sits in peripheral vision, so it makes the atmosphere without pulling your eyes off the page.
One reading session and the rhythm of a candle
We tend to light the candle about fifteen minutes before sitting down. That is the stretch soy wax blended by ZUNGZA needs for its surface to heat evenly and for the scent to come up to its rhythm. In those fifteen minutes you go and pour a glass of water, switch off a few other lamps, tidy the table, and by the time you sit down everything is just ready.
A burn of two to three hours is right for a reading session. Before lighting, trim the cotton wick to about five millimetres so the flame stays small and even, standing steady in a room with a light draught. When you close the book and leave the room, put the candle out, even if you are only stepping away for a moment.
For evenings when you read very late and would rather not have a flame, a reed diffuser on the bookshelf will keep that base of scent. It is quiet, works all day, and you turn the reeds when the scent in the room seems fainter than you like.
A few questions you often send us
Where should I put the candle in a reading corner
About an arm's length from where you sit, on the small table beside you or on a nearby bookshelf, slightly out of your line of sight and well away from anywhere with papers.
How long before reading should I light the candle
About fifteen minutes, enough for the wax surface to heat evenly and the scent to come up to its rhythm. Use that stretch to tidy the place and pour a glass of water.
Does candlelight tire the eyes when reading
Use your reading lamp as normal and let the candle do the atmosphere alongside it. That way the eyes have enough light to read, while the flame does its own work.
Read more scents for the bedroom and the living room, scent for the working corner at home, and how to keep a scent in the room longer.