HTML - Poet and the Painter

October 29, 2011

Halloween Candlesticks Tutorial

My monthly Girls' Night In was rapidly approaching and I realized I hadn't figured out a cute Halloween Project yet!  We get together each month and have dinner together, catch up, do something creative and bask in each other's company.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, most of these women are not overly creative, so I always try to find something that takes less than two hours and isn't "over the top" difficult.

Hmmmmm . . . what to do, what to do?  A trip to the "Old Time Pottery" Store in our area for inspiration!  I came across these sweet wine goblets that were about 8 inches tall and had ridges that were perfect little pumpkin shapes!  Note the price.  They were dusty and dirty but with a little soap and water, I knew I could turn these little babies into a cute pair of candlesticks for less than 10 bucks!
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To make these little babies, I gathered the following supplies:

2 Glass Goblets (Red Wine Size is perfect)
Mod Podge (I prefer the matte finish)
A nice flat, inexpensive paint brush
orange tissue paper (any kind will do, but I prefer art tissue because the color bleeds a bit
Black paper pumpkin face shapes (hand drawn)
Black Zig Marker
Glossy Accents
Raffia
Ric Rac
Stickles (I used black diamond)

First I cut the tissue in narrow strips that measure about an inch longer than the point at the bottom of the goblet to the top of the goblet.  Coat the outside of the goblet with Mod Podge (I do a several inch section at a time).

Begin laying the tissue paper on the glass in strips and coat each strip with a thin coat of Mod Podge as shown below:



Continue to apply strips of tissue, overlapping each piece slightly until the entire goblet is covered in orange tissue.  Cover the second goblet and set them both aside to let them dry.  Don't attempt to trim them until they are completely dry!

While waiting for the goblets to dry, use a Zig pen or any other waterproof market and draw some simple Jack-O'-Lantern shapes on a piece of white paper.  Make sure they are the proper size and dimension to fit on the tissue area of your goblet.





Once the goblets are dry, use scissors to trim along the top edge of the glass:


Run a bead of glossy accents around the upper rim of the glass - I prefer Glossy Accents to craft glues because it dries so quickly.


Attach Ric Rac to top of glass:


Carefully cut out Jack-O'Lantern face pieces, cutting inside the black so no white shows.  Paint Mod Podge onto goblet and arrange face pieces.  Cover face pieces with another layer of Mod Podge.






Your goblets should now look like this:



Using green raffia, take a few shredded pieces and tie a bow around the stem of the goblet as shown on the right.





To finish off your candlesticks, add a bit of dimension and sparkle by filling in the face pieces using Stickles Black Diamond.  Allow them to dry completely.


Now you have an adorable pair of Halloween candlesticks!  I set up my studio to get ready for Girls' Night and my friends loved the project!  Too Cute!