Before & After: From “Bad Candle” to “Fab Candle”! A Fleur-de-lis Embellished Candle
- The “before”: What Can Be Done With This?
Before & After:
From “Bad” to “Fab”!
A Fleur-de-lis Embellished Candle
Can this candle be “Saved From the Trash” or from a life as the designated “emergency” candle?
I bought the really great re-usable metal fleur-de-lis candle embellishment and it came with a less than specular green candle.
If you know me you know I both CAN’T bear to throw anything that might be used in the next 100 years away (look for me on the TV show Hoarders in about 10 years!) and that I am too thrifty to get rid of anything that can be used again (hence the shed full of stuff!).
So, my question to myself was “Could I salvage this candle AND do it within my budget (FREE!)?”.
The "after". Fab!
Well, I think I did a pretty good job of giving this candle a new life. It wasn’t without a couple of mishaps, but I think that it came out better for those “slips of the scissors” than the way I originally planned.
If you are using a “trash” candle and would like to paint it, by all means, learn from my experience and paint the candle BEFORE you decorate it.
This candle should be used for DECORATIVE PURPOSES ONLY because of the paint and paper adhering to the candle.
Materials
- Gold or black pillar candle
- Black flocked scrapbook paper
- Gold-tone patterned scrapbook paper
- Black & gold patterned ribbon – narrow and wide
- Gold-tone & black ornamental buttons (shank back)
- Gold-tone fleur-de-lis candle insert or push-pin
- Straight pins
Also Needed
- Mod Podge
- Paintbrush
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Silver metallic permanent marker
- Gold metallic paint (optional)
- Gold glitter paint (optional)
Photo Tutorial
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- So Would You Have Believed The “After” Could Have Come From This?
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- Photo 1: Assemble Supplies. I picked out several papers but when I found this black flocked paper in my stash that bought for a project it just didn’t work for I knew I had a winner!
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- Photo 2: On the back of the paper measure out the length and width of the paper needed to cover the candle. A silver metallic permanent marker works great for marking dark paper!
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- Photo 3: Draw out the lines using a ruler. Since you are marking on the back side of the paper it doesn’t matter if you make a mistake and need to re-draw. The old adage still goes here: “Measure twice, cut once.”- a rule you will see I failed to follow!!!
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- Photo 11: After the glue has dried, trim edges if needed. Be VERY careful and use your tiny scissors.
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- Photo 4: Wouldn’t you know it I cut the paper TOO SHORT! Quick thinking however saved the day (and the paper!) I cut a piece of gold to serve as an insert.
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- Photo 5: Apply Mod Podge to the candle and the back of the scrapbook paper. I always allow the glue to set for about 30 to 45 seconds so that it will be “tackier”.
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- Photo 6: Glue the insert to the candle and smooth.
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- Photo 7: Check the fit of the outer sleeve. Trim to leave about an 1 and one half to two inch gap showing. Use a straight pin to hold the ribbon in place to check fit.
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- Photo 8: Apply Mod Podge to the uncovered part of the candle and the back of the black paper. I always allow the glue to set for about 30 to 45 seconds so that it will be “tackier”.
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- Photo 9: Roll the candle over the back of the black paper and smooth any wrinkles.
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- Photo 10: Hold the paper around candle for 30 seconds to allow the glue to set and the paper to adhere to the candle.
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- Photo 12: Wrap the wide ribbon around the candle allowing the ribbon to overlap just a little and secure with straight pins at the join and in the back of the candle.
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- Photo 13: Save your fingers and use a wooden craft stick to press straight pins into candle.
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- Photo 14: Press a large, reusable fleur-de-lis candle embellishment or push-pin into the candle at the join or add a flat bow or embed an ornamental shank button.
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- Photo 15: While I loved the look of the candle the green candle left showing struck a sour note. So I grabbed a little metallic acrylic paint…
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- Photo 16: I found the best technique to get the paint even was to dab the brush. Allow to dry. It may need two coats. For a little extra glam I dabbed over this with gold glitter paint. Allow to dry. This would be of course a lot easier to do BEFORE you apply the paper!
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- Fab or Not? Let Me Know By “Rating” This Post or “Commenting” Below! Thank You For Taking A Look!
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- Photo 17: There was still a little green showing where I trimmed the edges at the bottom of the candle that probably would not matter if the candle was black, so I added a one inch wide gold & black ribbon to the bottom. Either plan the join at the back or imbed a shank backed gold & black button to cover it.
Thank you for reading my post. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. If you have any questions or something is not clear, please let me know so that I can improve the tutorial.
Please take a moment to leave a comment and rate this post.
Thanks again.
buggalcrafts
I love this ! Great job
Thank you so much! Hope u can use the idea!