It's been a while since I've done a random mini craft. I took my Mom to the local hobby shops today (the craft trifecta - Michael's, Ben Franklins, and Hobby Lobby). I didn't really need anything, so I was just looking for shapes - mini shapes of course :) There's always something out there that wasn't exactly meant to be used as a mini, but it just has to be seen with a "mini" eye.
I saw these lovely jewelry findings at Hobby Lobby. The brand is called Metal Gallery. Even better is that all Metal Gallery is 50% off this week. These small brass colored ones were $2.99 for a pack of 20. I thought the price was pretty good, but even better at 50% off.
So above are all the things you will need to make these lovely mini candle holders.
A pack of the brass jewelry findings (or silver, or gold, or bronze, whichever you prefer)
An old toothbrush
A burning candle (for the wax - I happened to have a blue candle burning, but you could use any color - I think I will try white next)
Scotch tape
Oh and I forgot one thing from my supplies pic. I used this small oral syringe. You can get these for free when you pick up your meds at the pharmacy. You may already have droppers like this at home.
Anyway to make these I covered the sides of the finding with a piece of scotch tape. I pulled the tape tight and then snipped off the parts that hung over the top and bottom - so I guess you will need a pair of scissors for the project too. I folded a piece of tape in half and stuck it to my desk so the findings could stand upright on top, which created a barrier so the wax wouldn't come out the bottom.
My candle was burning on the desktop so there was already a layer of liquid wax on top. I used the oral syringe to pull up about 1/2 a cc of wax. Just pull from a section that is away from the flame. I then used the dropper to pour tiny drops of wax into the finding. This was probably more than enough to make 10 of these so the extra I just poured back into my burning candle. I haven't cleaned out my syringe yet, but you could probably use a cup of boiling water and carefully draw it up into the syringe until the leftover wax melts then just pour it into the trash.
Then before they had a chance to harden all the way I used a single bristle from the toothbrush to make a wick by inserting it into the middle of the wax. When they were completely hard I removed the tape and then cut the toothbrush bristle down to size. I also used an Xacto knife to smooth the edge of wax around the top.
Cute, huh? They remind me of some mini Chrysnbon candle holders that I saw online, but I think those just had plastic inside made to look like glass with a decorative plastic detailing on the outside. So altogether this project cost me $1.50 as all of the other stuff I already had on hand. I think a set of these would look cute on a mini mantle or in a mini place setting.
Happy Saturday blogland!
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