Twine & Braids

Growing up my mom had window clings for every occasion; March had shamrocks, with April came the Easter eggs, and in February, of course, she had hearts.  Our home had four pane windows and french doors in the living room so we would place a simple red heart in the center of each pane.  These were always my favorite.  The hearts gave a sort of French Country feel that looked as though they were there year round.  Now, while Valentine’s Day is no longer a holiday I continued to decorate for, I still like to find small touches I can add to my apartment.  These easy DIY candle holders are the perfect addition.

wooden candle stick Holder

The first set of holders are made to hold tapered candlesticks.  For these I scoured the wood and craft aisle at Michael’s to find a piece that would hold the shape of a candle.  What I found were these 1 1/2 inch unfinished wood flower pots.  For the base I used simple wood cubes.

I stacked up the wood cubes and flower pot at varying heights and secured them together with hot glue.

At this point I gave the candle holders a rough sand and coated them in white paint and added a gold design.  You may choose to leave them as is for an unfinished look or maybe give them a quick stain.

Heart candle holders

The second set of candle holders are shaped to fit a tea light and are made of air drying modeling clay.

To complete this project I used; Staedtler FIMO Air-Drying Modelling Clay in white and a heart shaped cookie cutter.  I took about half the clay and started to work it in my hands until it became soft and easy to mold.  I worked it into a ball and pressed it into the cookie cutter. (Anyone else use aluminum foil as their work surface for easy clean up?)  Once the clay is in the cookie cutter I placed a tea light in the center and traced it with a toothpick.  This gives me the shape I need to carve out.

There are specific tools for modeling clay you can use to carve out the center and shape the clay but I found using a toothpick and an x – acto knife got the job done well.  Now for the hard part, waiting for the clay to dry.  It should take about 24 hours to dry but I found that because this mold was rather thick it took closer to 48 hours.  You can speed up the process a bit by placing the clay in front of a fan.

Once the heart dried I was able to clean up any small wrinkles and imperfections by sanding them out.  When I was happy with the shape and finished the sanding I wiped down the candle holder with a dry cloth, slapped on some paint and placed the tea lights in the center.  Super easy!

Enjoy!

Meghan