photos on candles

[pjw3362004]

Hi
I want to try to make some candles with photos on them for Christmas. What do you use to get the photo on the candles? Do you print on tissue paper or typeing paper? If it is tissue paper, how do you get it to go thru your printer? Has any one tried to drill a hole in the top for a tea light candle to go in? kinda like what is done to a log
Thanks
Pam

[kraftykatekloset]

Hi, I used to own a party supply store - we made several candles for bride & grooms using their wedding invitation. I don't think we ever put a picture on a candle but I would think you could do it the same way. We would whip wax up and attach the invitation with that. Sprinkle a little clear glitter all over the candle before it dries. Add a fancy fluffy bow and maybe some flowers around it (decorate the way you want). I hope you understand this and it makes sense. If you have any more questions I'll try to answer them for you.

[kraftykatekloset]

Hi, I forgot to tell you about the tea-light part. We always just carved the wax out at the top of the candle with a knife. We would put the whipped wax on the top of the candle also. Put a little bit of whipped wax in the carved out area put your tea-light in and take it back out while wax is still warm. Let cool (doesn't take long). I know that you can also attach pictures, invitation, appliques or whatever you are putting on the candle with pearl head pins. We used the kind that you use to put a corsage on. Cut the pin with a wire cutter - heat the end of the pin up and it slide right into the candle. Hope this helps.

[pjw3362004]

Thank you so much for the information. This is a midnight question. (my brain has already gone to sleep) How do you whip the wax?

[kraftykatekloset]

Melt your wax - and stir it until it gets fluffy. Like you would do with egg whites. I always think that it takes along time whipping to get it fluffy but the end results are worth it. You need to work fast!!! Once the wax cools it stiffens and you will have to remelt and rewhip. For larger candles we would do in sections - only whipping alittle bit of wax at a time. You will learn as you go what works best for you.

[row4d]

I've printed directly onto tissue paper before -- just taped it to a sheet of regular copy paper (make sure the entire leading edge is attached, not just the corners) and ran it through normally. You sometimes get a little wrinkling, so having several copies of the image on different parts of the page is a good idea.

[princessdi69]

i have printed on regular copier paper and then melted that to a candle.

[Jen2972]

I've done quite a few of these and even taught i to my digital photo students....
We attached a piece of tissue paper to a peice of regular photo paper and printed right on it... then when we were melting it to the candle we placed a peice of wax paper over the image and heated it.

They come out so nice!

[pjw3362004]

Thank you all for your hints. I am going to try these for Christmas.