Make seashell candles
These seashell candles are so pretty and really simple to make. We always collect a few shells on our trips to the beach so it’s a lovely way to use them rather than letting them gather dust somewhere!
What you will need:
Shells
Wax flakes
Candle wicks and holders or tea lights
Glue dots or a glue gun
Clean, tin can
Pan
Scissors
Gold acrylic paint and brush (optional)
What you need to do:
First select the shells to use. They shouldn’t be too shallow or lopsided so they can hold enough wax. The deeper the seashells the longer your candles will burn!
Give them a good clean and leave to dry.
If you have candle wicks and wax, then you can use them to make these candles but if not, you can use tealights. I used the wicks of some old scented tealights that I didn’t like the smell of and some soy wax flakes from a previous Mud & Bloom box.
To use tealights, simply push the candle out of the metal tin and either pull out the wick from the bottom of the candle or if that’s a bit tricky, you can use a knife to break apart the wax to release the wick.
Glue your wicks to the bottom of the seashells. I used glue dots but you can also use a hot glue gun to fix them in place. Make sure your wicks are standing straight.
The next step is to melt your wax. Take your wax flakes or the wax from your tealights and place into a clean, dry tin. Stand your tin in the middle of a small pan and half fill your pan with water. Put the pan on a hob on a low to medium heat and leave it until all your wax has melted.
Carefully pour your wax into your seashells making sure you don’t let the wax reach the rim. You’ll probably want to put your shells on some greaseproof paper for this bit to catch any spills!
Leave the seashells until the wax has hardened.
Once the seashell candles have set, trim the wick so it is between 0.5-1cm long.
If you want, you can use some gold paint along the edges of your shells to make them sparkle when they are lit!
Author: Denise Hope, home educating mum of two young people