By Michelle Vekved
This is a super fast project that can pump out gifts in sets in even less than an hour.
ONE WORD OF CAUTION: When decorating candles that will be lit, be sure to decorate close to the bottom to avoid a fire hazard. One awesome idea to avoid it all is to light the candle before you start and let it burn to create a hole in the top the size and depth of a tea light (or deeper for a more luminary look). There are electric tea lights that can be inserted in that hole (cut the wick off the candle first so it sits flat) to give the appearance of a glowing candle without the fire hazard. Great for pets or kids too!
My sample above was done with rhinestones, paint and glitter. As you can see below, almost any combination of products will create wonderful works of art. Be sure when stamping that you use ink that will stick to the slick surface (such as Staz-on) and take care not to slide your stamps on the candle as you stamp.
Don’t be afraid to experiment, if it doesn’t stick or you don’t like it, it will wipe off and you can try something else.
I did not get a chance to use the glimmer mists on the candles, but they may prove to create interesting effects.
Something I thought of afterwards, alcohol inks would make awesome marbled effects on the wax.
For the glitter candles or candles you wish to paint, you can freehand your designs or use stencils as I did. Simply choose a stencil (I reused popped out chipboard templates) and place it over the candle where you want the design. Using a stylus / piercer / heavy piece of wire / other fine-pointed tool, trace the design onto the candle. For stiff templates, rolling the candle as you go will give you an even tracing.
When you’re finished, the candle will now have your design on it and be ready to retrace/fill-in with glitter glue, stickles or paint. When painting, you will need to use plastic paint or it will bead. If you’re simply making accents like little dots as I did, regular acrylic paint will work fine.
NOTE: Be sure you don’t stick your fingers into the wet glitter glue as you’re working. If you do, simply wipe the area off and retrace with glitter glue or use a tool to push the glue back into place.
Another sample: Flower candles
For these you will need: paper/silk flowers and/or leaves, patterned paper that you can cut pieces from for your decorations and corsage pins and/or glass head pins (dress-maker pins) and a side cutter or wire cutter or needle-nose pliers with cutters in them.
Simply start by choosing your layout on the candle.
Cut the stick off the pin to about 1/4” from the head, on an angle to make it easier to push into the wax.
WORD OF CAUTION: The stick end will go flying, so be sure to cut inside a bucket, box or bag to keep it from impaling you or someone else (now or later, they’re hard to find!) or hold onto both ends of the pin when cutting.
Use the pins as your flower centers or to hold on a button or something else, or group them together for a bumpy custom center. You can also use them to fill in your traced designs as on the first sample, or as accents, whatever your imagination can think up!
To adhere objects that don’t need pins (ie: leaves) foam pop dots work awesome and stick really well. Layer your leaves/flowers and stick them together with glue, then pop dot them to the candle. Adds great dimension, too.
You can also just use geometric designs, or strips of paper or anything you like.
Let your imagination guide you!
