New Year, Christmas, Old New Year… How manyjoy and inspiration these holidays bring us! The atmosphere itself - magical and mysterious - encourages us to do something no less magical. Our hands are itching to make something fabulous, and there are, frankly speaking, many opportunities for this. These include exclusive Christmas tree decorations and garlands, and homemade gifts and souvenirs, and New Year's compositions, and, of course, holiday candles. By the way, to make New Year's candles with your own hands, you don't necessarily need to have any special skills. You can, as they say, cast candles from scratch, or you can decorate ready-made store-bought candles. Let's try?
Multicolored candles-cones
The simplest, but very elegant candles can be made from white paraffin candles and candle stubs that are no longer suitable for use. For this we will need:
- several candle sticks or white paraffin candles,
- colored wax pencils (crayons),
- Scotch,
- magazine sheets,
- glass jar,
- beads and beads,
- scissors,
- toothpicks,
- Scotch.
First, we remove the wick from the candles by breaking itcandles into small pieces. Place the wax fragments in a jar and add the chopped wax crayons there. Place the jar in any suitable container filled with hot water and melt the wax in a water bath. While the wax is melting, roll up a cone from magazine sheets and fasten its edges with tape. Secure the wick (longer than the height of the cone) with one end in the middle of a toothpick (with glue, plasticine or tape), and lower its other end inside the paper cone and pull out a small tip from the top of the cone. Carefully wrap the hole with the wick inserted into it with tape from the outside, and place the toothpick on the edges of the cone base. Place the mold in a glass or jar, the diameter of which should be smaller than the diameter of the cone base. Place the cone with the bell facing up and pour the melted wax into it. Leave the candle to harden. When the wax hardens, cut the wick at the base and remove the toothpick. Now turn the candle over, remove the paper and decorate the candle with beads and seed beads. To do this, place them in hot water and, taking them out with tweezers, press them into the wax. Beads and seed beads can be scattered randomly over the candle, or you can lay out New Year's patterns or inscriptions from them.
Citrus candle
For New Year's home decor you will need:dried orange slices. They can be prepared in advance by drying them in the oven on the lowest heat. You can decorate candles with these citrus slices. To do this, prepare:
- thick round candle,
- dried oranges,
- a candle for melting,
- wide glass,
- hairdryer.
Break the white paraffin candle into pieces andmelt in a water bath. Place the candle prepared for decoration in a wide glass and surround it with orange slices, placing them between the wall of the glass and the candle. Now carefully fill all the empty spaces with liquid wax and leave the candle until it hardens completely. When the wax hardens, lower the glass into hot water and carefully remove the candle from it. Use a stream of hot air from a hair dryer to go over the walls of the new candle so that the excess wax drains, revealing the entire citrus decor. While the wax on the orange slices is still hot, you can add beads or seed beads to the candle decoration.
Candle in the technique of decoupage
This method of making a New Year's candle issomething between casting from scratch and creating a New Year's composition. We will decorate the candles with decoupage napkins with New Year's motifs. For such a festive candle we will need:
- a large round candle of white or yellowish color,
- a napkin for decoupage or a traditional three-layer napkin with a New Year pattern,
- scissors,
- pencil,
- hairdryer.
We cut out a motif from a napkin.The cut piece of napkin should be equal in width to the length of the candle circumference, and its height should be equal to its height. Now remove the top layer of the napkin, wrap it around the candle and gently smooth it with a pencil or a fingernail. Then turn on the hair dryer and, directing the hot air at the candle, melt the wax. As a result, the melted wax will soak the napkin, and it will stick tightly to the candle, merging with its surface. Another way to attach the napkin to the candle is to use a tablespoon. To do this, heat the spoon over the flame of another lit candle, holding it over the fire with the inner (concave) side. And then smooth the napkin with a hot spoon. The wax, as under the influence of hot air from the hair dryer, will melt and soak the napkin.
Simple decoration of candles
A relief pattern can be created on candles withusing regular sewing pins. To do this, take thick colored or white candles and pins with mother-of-pearl bead heads. The main thing is that the diameter of the candle is greater than the length of the pin. Now just stick the pins into the candles, creating a suitable pattern in the form of snowflakes, stars and inscriptions. Another way of simple decoration is to wrap the candle in a spiral with serpentine, stripes of Christmas tree tinsel or foil. Colored candles can be "dusted" with foam snow. To do this, the foam needs to be crumbled, the candle greased with glue and sprinkled with foam crumbs. If you have a special pencil for candles, then simply paint any ready-made candles with it or use a stained glass outline instead of such a pencil.
New Year's compositions and candlesticks
A simple and affordable way to decorate for the New Year –creating compositions with candles or using themed candlesticks. Let's start with candlesticks. You can use ordinary transparent glasses for them. The simplest method is to put a candle in a glass and fill the space between it and the walls of the glass with multi-colored beads, nuts, Christmas tree tinsel and rain. Another accessible method is to use any low container (a jar of face cream, for example) as a candlestick and decorate it with spruce or pine branches, cones, bows and beads. Or you can make a whole bouquet of candles. To do this, take a wine glass or a small vase, pour sand (semolina, salt or sugar) on the bottom and stick tall narrow candles into it, giving them the shape of a bouquet. To complete the picture, tie a bow on the stem of the glass or wrap it with tinsel. Candlestick made of orange peel. Take an orange and cut it into two unequal hemispheres - a small one and a large one. Remove the pulp from both parts. Cut off the top of the small hemisphere so that it stands firmly on the surface, and on the large part of the candlestick, use a sharp knife to cut out open patterns in the form of stars and circles. Now turn the small hemisphere over, put a short candle in it and cover it with a large hemisphere. Such a candlestick will not only create an entourage appropriate for the New Year's holiday, but will exude a delicate orange aroma. New Year's compositions with candles. It is very popular to create compositions with floating candles. To do this, take a wide glass salad bowl or a deep dish and fill it with water. Let special floating candles and Christmas tree balls float on the surface of the water. You can also use heads of fresh flowers in the composition instead of balls. Place one thick or several narrow candles on a large dish or a fruit vase. Fill the free surface of the dish with Christmas tree balls, streamers and spruce branches. For decoration, you can use angel figurines, rowan branches, artificial or live flowers, and dried orange slices. In a word, everything depends on your imagination! Do not let your creative impulses stagnate, especially on the eve of the New Year and Christmas holidays. Fantasize, create, build - and you will succeed! We recommend reading:
