DIY Decorative Candle Tray Set

This blog post is about making this little decorative piece. There are lots of beautiful candle trays available out there but being the DIY enthusiast that I am, again, I just decided to make one myself. I have this beaded wire tree (see these posts to see the making of the tree and the base) that I wanted to feature in this project along with the candles, of course.

I started off with the tray first. I cut pieces of illustration boards into the sizes needed for the tray, times two, as I wanted to double the thickness of each side. I then glued the same two pieces of board to each other before I assembled the tray. I only used regular white glue on this.

 

When the glue dried and the tray was already sturdy, I covered the sides of the tray with thin white clay. I want to give it a clay like finish so the cardboard wouldn't be too obvious. This is the air dry type of clay so there's no need for baking.

After a couple of hours the clay was completely dry since it was only a thin layer but I still waited a little longer just to be sure, I was doing other things while it was drying. anyway. Then when it's ready to be painted over, I just used watercolor and my fingers to paint. I wanted an uneven effect so I tried to see if finger painting would give a better result than using brush. I'm quite happy with the it so I just left it like that and finished off with a thin coat of Mod Podge.

I wanted to use the scented candles that I have in the bathroom but I thought that I'm not really planning on lighting this set that I'm trying to make, just purely for display purposes, so I chose these plain white candles and dressed them up a bit. 

From the two candles, I cut four pieces with different sizes using a heated cutter, so the hot blade just slid through the candle.

This tissue paper is something that I just got from a bag I recently bought. The sales staff forgot to remove the filler or it's probably not required to remove it before putting the bag in the paper bag. Instead of throwing it away, I kept the tissue paper thinking that I could use it in one of my recycling projects, and I was right, haha. I smoothed it out, cut it to pieces with sizes just right for the candles, and painted them with watercolor. This tissue paper can be printed on using a regular printer, just stick it on a regular copy paper, with a little adhesive on the corners maybe, just enough for the tissue paper to go with the copy paper when you feed them on the printer. This way, you can print a picture on it or any other design for a more personalized touch.

I wrapped the tissue paper around the candle with the painted side facing it. Pressing the back of the heated spoon lightly on the tissue paper made the candle wax melt and soak through the paper. Now the paper is like a part of the candle. An electric iron or a hairdryer can be used in this process, too, or probably anything that can do the same, melting the wax but not burning the paper.

When the tray was ready, I just glued the candles and the beaded wire tree on it using white glue and let it dry.

I scattered pebbles and beads evenly on the tray around the candles and the tree, and coated them with Mod Podge to add some gloss. 

It's finished and is now one of the decorative pieces on our console cabinet. The letter standees and the vase of flowers are also just made by me, haha. Just a proof that I'm really into DIY.

If you're feeling creative today, go ahead and grab something to make. You'll be surprised how fulfilling it is to see your finished project, even if there are some things that didn't turn out as planned. Just a warning though, once you start making crafty stuff, you'll get hooked to it. 

Hope you like this post. Ciao!