Week 5 – Sundae Dish and Tea Cup Candles

The weeks are flying by and we are now a third of the way through our 15 Great Christmas Makes.  If you’ve been following us you will now know how to make coasters, 50′s hair bands, exfoliating scrubs and vintage cake stands.  We hope you have tried some of these lovely gift ideas already, if not you’d better get cracking!

This week we are making Sundae Dish and Tea Cup Candles.  As usual I got carried away and started filling all sorts of vessels with wax!  So empty out your cupboards and rummage around at car boot sales and vintage markets for anything that will make a quirky, attractive (and safe!) candle holder.  Alternatively we stock a selection of cups and saucers in our online shop.

You will need:

Various cups/dishes as candle holders (aprox 10 – 12 depending on amount of wax)
coloured wax totalling 1.5kg *
1m of wick*
10 wick ends*
10 glue spots*
* All these items are available as a candle making kit,  widely available online or at craft shops.

Gather all your little sundae glasses, decorative glass jars and vintage cups and saucers together, give them a wash so they are clean and dry and free from dust.

I ordered my candle making kit from Ebay but there are lots of different kits available on the internet.  I received 1.5kg of coloured wax (500g of each colour), 1 metre of wick, 10 wick ends and 10 glue dots.  In all I made 6 cupcake candles, 1 large jar, 1 small jar, 3 sundae glasses and a small dish so the wax does go a long way.

1. Heat some water in a saucepan and put wax into a jug (preferably an old one!) and heat gently until wax melts, stirring from time to time.  This is the same theory as a double boiler for melting chocolate etc.

2.  Whilst this is melting trim your wick so it is about an inch or so longer than it needs to be as it has to wrap around a pencil.  You then need to thread your wick through your metal wick end and secure with a glue dot.

3.  When the wax has melted dip your wick into the wax briefly. Take it out and pull it straight, holding in this position for a second or two.

4.  Then whilst still pliable wind the top of your wick around a pencil enough for it to stay in place when you lay the pencil across the top of your cup, dish or other candle holder.  When in place, the wick end should be sitting on the bottom centre of the cup, with the wick standing straight up onto the pencil above.

5.  Slowly pour your wax into your jar or cup, making sure you don’t dislodge the wick in the centre and then leave to harden.   If you are applying different colour waxes in a jar I think it looks better with the darker colour at the bottom.  Sometimes when the wax has dried it dips in the middle.  If this happens just melt a bit more wax and top it up.

6.  If you want to add another layer of wax in a different colour leave an hour or so before adding a new layer.  The sundae glasses were just crying out for a layer of “cream” on the top for a finishing touch!

7.  When the wax is set cut the wick down to about 1 cm and then leave the candles to fully harden over night.  If you have any melted wax left over pour it into an icecube tray and leave to harden.  You can then pop them out and store them for another melting session!

8.  I then added some decorative lace and ribbon to the candles.  The sundae dish candles look good enough to eat!

Not only do these candles make great gifts they would be perfect for a vintage themed wedding or celebration and a great gift for your guests to take home.