After a succession of bumps and bruises on life's path, Robert Dolle tossed a new iron in the fire and started an online natural products business called "I Am Flame."

"(After I) fell flat on my face, it forced me to look at myself and say 'OK, loser, now what?'" says Dolle, who suffered a series of romantic disappointments, including the end of a 20-year relationship.

A seasoned carpenter who designs kitchens at one of the "box stores," Dolle desired a venture that would combine work with spirituality. Although still employed by the big chain, Dolle quietly launched I Am Flame a few months ago.

I Am Flame offers an exceptional selection of handmade soaps, lotions, oils (including massage oils), milk baths, bath salts and beeswax and soy-wax candles. The site also contains lots of distilled natural product info for those of us who need a refresher.

For example, did you know that paraffin wax -- the type of wax most candles are made from -- is the leftover sludge from the oil refining business?

"It isn't even good enough to burn in your car, yet we are eager to burn the solid sludge sticks in our personal air space," says Dolle.

Eventually, Dolle plans to include environmentally sound building products to his inventory, but although he describes Milwaukee as the "mystical chamber of the heart in the mystical body of America," he doesn't plan to move his business from cyberspace to the streets of Brew City.

Dolle, 50, grew up in Ohio but moved to Milwaukee in 1984. He currently lives in Riverwest and drums with the band The Blood Brothers. He has been open to New Age thought -- something he describes as "this funny way of thinking" -- since the 70s.

"I know soap and candles aren't exactly trailblazing items in the great cosmic continuum, but it's a start," he says.

The "I Am Flame" Web site is iamflame.com.

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Posted by OMCreader on Aug. 10, 2005 at 3:07 p.m. (report)

Mina said: Good for you! My friend burns the cheapest candles and is always hacking and sick. Wonder why????