How to Make Decorated Candles at Home – 3 Techniques of “Decoupage”

Decoupage technique in decoration is a creativite idea which you can discover to make your personalized candles.

Candles are used to light, decorate and attract good vibes according to colors. They are also used at weddings, funerals and even at Christmas according to the Christmas traditions of each country. For example in Colombia on December 7, people celebrate day of the candles; this celebration marks the beginning of Christmas. At night, candles and lanterns are placed inside and outside of each home. This is the preamble to commemorate the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary held the next day.

There are candles of different colors with special meaning.

• Yellow: To attract money, health and improve concentration.
• Blue: It should be used when calm is needed.
• Red: It brings energy and passion in a relationship.
• White: To eliminate the negative energy of the home.
• Greens: It gives hope, they are useful when a new stage begins.

Types of candles

Wax candles

They are made with beeswax that does not pollute the environment, unlike those made with paraffin derived from petroleum.

Scented candles

Candles made with various fragrances that aromatize places to avoid uncomfortable odors. The most used fragrances are: sandalwood, roses, rosemary, lavender and vanilla. These candles help a lot for relaxation.

Incense candles

White candles made with wax or paraffin mixed with herbs or medicinal plants such as chamomile, myrrh and mint. They are used in masses or religious rituals to purify the environment.

Esoteric candles

They are linked to energy and spirituality. They are used to attract some kind of good things such as health, money, love, prosperity, among others.

Decorative candles

Decorative candles are used to give a more intimate, more cozy and relaxing atmosphere to places. There are square, round, carved, personalized, in the form of canes and pines.

Personalized decorative candles

It is important to know how to make decorated candles because many times we see some beautiful candles and we would like to have them in our home. There are many ways to decorate a candle, I will teach you 3 simple “decoupage” techniques to personalize them.

Decoupage technique

The decoupage or découpage comes from the French word découper which means cutting. This is a technique to decorate different surfaces such as wood, glass, candles, soaps, ceramics, among others. The decoration is done by gluing paper cutouts or printed fabrics on the surface of the candle. This technique is so elaborate giving the appearance of being a painting instead of a cut. Normally a decoupage varnish is used for its preparation and bonding in other type of surfaces. In this case, as we are going to make decorated candles, we do not need varnish, only heat to stick the images.

Decoupage for decorating candles with the heat of an iron

Materials

• Decorated napkins, decorated fabrics, decorated papers, dried leaves or dried flowers.
• 1 candle
• 1 iron
• Scissors
• Glue Stick

Process

Before starting, you should take out your candle from the protective plastic. Then, cut the images you want to put on your candle, be napkins, fabrics or papers. If you use decorative napkins, you should remove all the layers and leave only the last one having the drawing. As a result of removing the layers, the napkin will be adhered to the candle, producing the appearance of being a painting. If you want to use fabrics or paper, they must also be very thin and fine.

When you have the cuts ready, heat the iron for a few seconds at the minimum temperature. Then, paste the image on the candle with the glue stick and start to pass the iron over it. Do it for a few seconds and very carefully so that the candle will not be deformed. Verify that the image is adhered especially on the edges.

If you want to decorate your candle using flowers or leaves, you must dry them into a book for 15 days. Then, you can follow the same procedure as well as the images.

Decoupage style for personalized candles with the heat of another candle

Materials

• Decorated napkins, fabrics or papers
• 1 candle
• Scissors
• 1 additional candle to light
• Matches
• 1 spoon
• Glue Stick

Process

Remove the candle from the plastic. The first thing to do is to trim edges of the images. If you use napkins for your decoration, you should remove all the layers and leave only the last one having the drawing. If you want to use fabrics or paper, they must also be very thin and fine.

Once the image has been cropped, paste it on the candle with the glue stick. Then light another candle and heat the concave side of the spoon for a few seconds. When it is hot, use the convex side of the spoon to paste the edges of the image. If you leave the hot spoon on the candle for a long time, it starts deforming because of the heat.

Decoration for candles with the heat of a hair dryer

Materials

• 1 candle
• 1 hair dryer
• Printer
• Computer
• 1 sheet to print
• Parchment, wax or paraffin paper
• Tissue paper
• Scotch tape
• Glue Stick

Process

This method to make decorated candles is very broad as unlimited, so it is my favorite. Since many designs can be made with images, figures, signs and even with photographs. In this method, creativity has no limits.

The first thing to do is remove the candle from the plastic. Then, from your computer look for the images, photos or whatever you want to print for your candle.

The next step is to cut the tissue paper slightly smaller than the sheet for printing. Then, you must paste the tissue paper to the sheet with scotch tape or glue stick. Make sure not having raised edges of the tissue paper to avoid that the printer get stuck. The smooth part of the tissue paper must go down, so that the printing is on the opaque part of the paper. Print and cut the image, then peel the tissue paper from the other sheet. Then, paste the image to the candle with the glue stick.

Next, you can cover the entire candle with parchment paper, no need to paste it. Once the paper is cover it, turn on the hair dryer and start passing it over the image. This heat will allow the image to adhere to the candle. When you see that the image changes color to a darker shade it is because it is already completely pasted. At that time you can remove the parchment paper and now you can see a beautiful decorated candle.

You can find this article in other languages

• Spanish
• French

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