Altered Candles
by Rachel Thacker

12/08/05

 

Last year at the after Christmas sale I bought about 8 candles for about .25 cents a piece. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them but had heard that they were very easy to alter. I love candles! This year I decided to alter some candles for some of friends as gifts to help decorate their homes for the Holiday season.

Items Needed:

Tissue Paper
Wax Paper
Stamps
Permanent Ink (Staz-on, Versafine)
Embellishments (ribbons, flowers)
Colorants (chalk, markers, rub-ons)
Heat Embossing Tool
Candle

Step One: Decide how much of the candle you want covered with your design. You can do the whole candle or just part of it. I decided to do just the front part of my candles. You can do whatever you would like. Stamp your design onto the tissue paper you have measured to fit your candle.

Step Two: Add whatever colorant you want to use to your stamped image. I used Sharpies to color mine. You can use anything from chalk, metallic rub-ons, or even just a different color of tissue paper. When using chalk or Metallic Rub-ons; be sure to seal those before you put them on your candle. You can seal them with Krylon spray of any kind.

Step Three: Take your tissue paper and place on the candle in the exact spot that you want your design to appear. After placing the tissue paper, cover the whole candle with wax paper. Use the waxy side of the paper not the shiny side. Make sure to only get one layer and that the wax paper is very tight against the candle at all times.

Step Four: Using your heat emboss tool, heat the wax paper. The tissue paper will actually melt into the wax and it will look like the design is imposed into the candle. This step gets very hot; so please be careful. The wax paper actually will leave a layer of wax over the top of your image.

Step Five: Embellish your candle! I used glitter and ribbons. You can use whatever you want. Flowers will stick if you use a hot glue gun. Have fun with it. Tailor it to your decorations or whatever you want it to be. You could even have candles for every season. Of course, these candles are not functional once altered so please don’t try to burn them. They are for decoration only!

Products used:
Tissue Paper: Dollar Store
Stamp: Rose Splendor set - Rebecca Baer
Ink: Vintage Sepia – Versafine
Ribbons - C.M. Offray & Sons
Glitter - Art Institute
Adhesive: A Fine Line....PVA Glue
Designer Dries Clear - Art Institute
Candle - Santa's Workbench

Articles on ScrapFriends may not be duplicated, in part or as a whole, without the permission of the original author.



See more of Rachel's work in our gallery.
Read Rachel's biography



Scrapbookingtop50 Counter