Project: Honor Candle

Project: Honor Candle

Inspiration: We're really interested in honoring our family on our wedding day, and that includes those who have passed away. The bouquet charms is one way we are doing it, but we wanted something more "public" as well, to let everyone know, particularly the aunts and uncles, that we are thinking about our several late grandparents. I liked the candles like this I saw online, but, knowing we couldn't do an open flame pillar, thought about doing a lantern.

I then remembered the craft I had pinned at one point about transferring images onto candles, and wondered if I could combine the two, rather than having a sign. I thought it was a nice opportunity to personalize the gesture to craft something meaningful.










Cost/Materials: You'll need a lantern with a big enough glass face that you'll be able to read the candle through it. I got mine at AC Moore - they have a great selection and this one was originally about $10 I believe, but I used a 40% off coupon to only spend $6 on it. The candle I used was flameless, for two reasons (1) to avoid any open flame issues with the venue, although it probably wouldn't create an issue, and (2) because I didn't want the candle to actually melt and result in disfiguring the transfer I was going to put on it. The candle did need to be real wax, though, for the transfer process to work. It's "Nicole" brand, purchased at AC Moore, and was relatively inexpensive. Other materials you need include white tissue paper (Dollar Tree), any piece of regular 8.5''x11'' paper, tape, scissors, a heat gun or hairdryer, a printer (inkjet worked fine) and something to protect your hands from the heat such as gloves.

How I Did It: I created my transfer image in Powerpoint. The first thing I did was check the size of the candle (how big of a surface did I want to cover, how tall was the candle, etc.) and then change the page size to make sure I worked within those constraints. Then I wrote our message in and used the same pictures (sepia-toned) of our grandparents that I had used for the bouquet charms. To keep them all the same shape, you can see the process in the photo (crop, mask to shape, basic shapes, oval). I then gave them soft edges since the backgrounds were all different.

The next, and toughest, thing to do is to get it printed onto the tissue paper. The first time I tried, I wrapped tissue paper all the way around the regular sheet of paper I had, and ran it through the printer. As you can see in the first photo, it didn't come out so hot. Thankfully, only a little ink and a tiny bit of tissue paper were wasted as I tried again. I found the best way to print on the tissue paper was to cut the tissue paper down to just larger than the size you need, and then tape it within the boundaries of the paper you're sticking it on, in order to hold it taut. Set the printer settings to "transfer paper" (just make sure this doesn't mirror the image!) and quality to "best." This resulted in the image printing much more slowly and coming out with higher quality/fewer wrinkles. After this, I didn't want to risk tearing the paper too much when I was separating it from the 8.5''x11'' base paper, so instead I just cut through both papers so that the two fell apart with no problem.

The next step was to wrap the tissue paper around the candle and start heating it up. I used a hairdryer for this, though I am sure a true crafting heat gun might have worked more easily. What happens is the wax starts to melt and basically soaks through the tissue paper, absorbing it into the candle. You can see it starting to happen in the picture to the right, in the spots where the tissue paper starts to become clear instead of white. 

You'll want to work quickly once you see the wax soaking through, because if you let it go to long, things will start to morph. If you get to a point where it's starting to pool, it's okay to let the candle cool down and solidify and start again later before things get out of control. Same goes for any little pockets/air bubbles that come up, like this one you can see on the right side of the candle. I waited until it was cool, then gave it a concentrated shot of heat and bravely smoothed it down with my finger.

The Outcome: Here it is in the lantern! The candle looks cooler when you can see it flickering, but you get the idea.

Lessons Learned/Tips: It gets hot holding something that you're using heat on! I ended up grabbing a kitchen mitt (see photo left, ignore toilet) to protect my hand, however I didn't realize it had some bits of crumbs on it.. which ended up melted into the back of the candle. I was able to get most of them out, but just make sure any hand protection you use is clean! And lastly I'd recommend that depending on where you're going to put the candle that you decide whether you want one that is scented or not. I hadn't realized this one was scented until I got it home, and it wasn't a big deal to me, but if you were going to use candles on the tables of a reception, you'd probably want them to be unscented so that the candle scent doesn't clash with or overpower the food.

Would I Do It Again: Yeah, this would be a fun craft to use in the future for other purposes, e.g., maybe transferring photos onto candles for an party or to give as a gift or something like that.