This lovely candlestick was made from katalox, sometimes called Mexican Royal Ebony. I love this wood. It's so dense and polishes so smooth. It feels wonderful. All the coloring on this piece is the natural color of the wood, including the prominent white circle in the bulb-shaped area. The white is the sapwood, and the darker parts are the heartwood. This piece has an especially dark area between the sapwood and the start of the heartwood, which made a gorgeous outline around the white circle.

The copper sleeve serves two purposes – it's aesthetically pleasing and it's a functioning auto-snuffer. Once the wick of the candle burns down below the copper sleeve, the candle's own combustion gases deprive the flame of the oxygen it needs to burn.