Drip-Dyed Candles

I had a fun idea for home decor. But it didn’t go so well. Want to see anyways?

Here are the facts, Jack:

I collect candles from garage sales. Even if they’ve been used once or are a little banged up, I can stomach paying $0-$2 for a big candle that will burn for weeks instead of an $12-$25 candle that I could buy retail. Many a time, they’re tossed into those free bins at yard sales, and the real treasure is when you can cram 80,000 tealights into a paper bag during those precious church “bag sales”. Can you believe it? Perfectly good candles. So, I’ve accumulated have a lot. And it’s good, because I burn candles almost daily during the fall and winter months.

I picked up these two from who-knows-where, who-know-when, and even though they looked like they were stored in the bottom of a box of holiday stuff in grandma’s attic for 20 years, they were unused, large, and unscented. Wins almost all around.

Because they were a little dinged up, appearing both dented and discolored in spots, I volunteered them for this project I had been thinking up. Drip-dyed candles. Think: A combination of Martha Stewart’s dip-dyed candles and these crayon art pieces that have been circulating Pinterest this summer (amazing DIY interpretation as shown by Erin B. Inspired):

The concept, to make drippy lines of colorful crayon wax all down the sides of the candles, adding a little flair (picture me flipping my hair) and helping to disguise the bruises and dents on the candles. Because I only had one 24-pack of crayons to work with, I wouldn’t have had enough to melt in a crock pot a la Martha Stewart, but picking and choosing a color palette that was both very autumnal and very match-matchy to my new living room color block art seemed to be a good idea. At the time.

I taped said selection of reds, oranges, red-oranges, peaches, to the top edge of the candle with some blue painter’s tape.

And then, with a simple Wagner heat gun (something that Pete has owned for helping to strip paint), I blasted the crayon tips on the lowest heat setting. The lowest setting still gets pretty wildly hot, even enough to burn the crayon paper and start a small fire (whoops), but is gentle enough to keep the wax-flying chaos under control.

I carefully shifted the crayons while I melted them, careful not to singe my fingies, to help the wax dribble on different areas of the candle. I should also note to be careful how long you hold that gun at the candle itself. Because the candle is made of wax, and will start to soften and morph a little under the heat generated. In my experience, it wasn’t enough to damage the candle, and I observed the crayons melting much more quickly.

Here’s the first problem: The dribbles weren’t falling straight like I hoped. Partially because of the strength of the heat gun making it splatty, partially because it was my first time playing with these substances and it was a learning experience.

Instead of looking like autumnal-happy-matches-my-mantlepieces, it was looking like oozing blood, which, with Halloween just a few days away, I decided was still OK. It wasn’t the intent, but I can let it fly. Also, what I’m showing you here is the best side of the candle. The other angles weren’t as perfectly drippy.

I forged on with candle #2 by planning a style that was more like Martha Stewart’s dip-dye model, except instead of dipped, I’d drip the wax onto the lower area to simulate it looking dipped. Ah, I thought it would be nice and clean.

Clean, no. Weird, yes.

The second candle was going so poorly that I actually just let loose on the white area and let the drips do whatever they wanted. Lost hope. Looks a little like a 1st grade art project.

Not what I intended. But Halloween appropriate, so ho-hum. I think they look murder weapons. Mental note, I need to catch up on this season of Criminal Minds.

At least they’re still burnable, so it’s not at all a lost cause. Very soon my evidence will be gone-zo.

Any decor fails recently? Wax projects gone awry? And more importantly, have you done any projects this like that have gone awesomely (like Erin B. Inspired’s rainbow wax canvas)? I’d love to see.