How to Decorate a Candle with Tissue Paper
One of my favorite and most versatile DIY gifts to make are decorated candles: they are inexpensive and easy to personalize! Today I’m going to share a basic tutorial for how you can use tissue paper to decorate a candle for your home or as a DIY gift.
Supplies:
- Tissue Paper
- Plain Candle
- Scotch tape
- Heat Gun
- Wax Paper
Instructions:
Cut three strips of gold tissue paper long enough to wrap around your candle with a slight overlap. Vary the thickness of the three strips for added interest. For a 3″ pillar candle the strips were approximately 10″ long and widths were one quarter inch, three quarter inch, and 1 and 1/4 inches wide.
Wrap the strips of tissue paper tightly around your candle and secure with a small piece of tape. It is very important that the tissue paper be in contact with the candle with no wrinkles or space between the wax and tissue paper.
Cut a piece of wax paper wide enough to wrap over the entire candle-approximately 8″ wide for a 3″ pillar candle. Wrap the paper tightly and secure with tape or hold with your hands.
Use the heat gun to slowly begin melting the wax on the wax paper into the tissue paper. You will see the change as the wax paper melts and begins to soak into the tissue paper. Don’t stay in one spot for too long, once you see the wax melt move on slowly and steadily. Don’t forget to watch your fingers, heat guns are capable of causing burns if not handled properly!
**I know many will ask if a hair dryer will work for this project and in my experience it does not get hot enough.**
After you have melted the wax into all of the tissue paper, gently peel the wax paper off of candle and discard.
This easy DIY can be changed to create any number of decorated candles. Try stamping designs on tissue paper the same color as your candle for another easy way to decorate. I even had my boys draw pictures on tissue paper to attach to a candle for their Dad when he was deployed-the possibilities are endless!
Hi Shylee,
Great question, there will be a barely-there indication of the tape but if you prefer you can not tape it and just wrap the wax paper tightly around to hold it in place…that method takes a bit of practice and patience but works without any marks.
Hope that helps!
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
Just wondering, what happens to the pieces of tape used to hold down the tissue paper? Do you take them off after ?
Thanks,
Shylee
You’re very welcome Jeff!
No problem Jason, I hope you enjoy it, happy new year!
Thanks Brad! Happy New Year!
You’re very welcome Colleen, Happy New Year!!
No problem Tim, I hope you enjoy it! Happy New Year!
Thanks Shelley, it’s a super easy DIY that can be changed up to fit anyone’s decor!
Simple, fun, creative. Such a easy way to make a big change. Thanks for sharing
What an easy way to make a plain candle look like its a one of a kind. Thanks for sharing.
Such a easy way to change the look of a candle. Thank you for sharing a easy DIY task that I actually feel I can do without messing it up.
Awesome article! about to tweet and show some of my clients:) LosAngelesHomeDevelopment
Wow, who would have ever thought! Great tutorial, I’m going to definitely do this! Thank you
this seems like a more than do able project that you could have fun with. Thank you for sharing such a easy project.
Very clever. What a great gift idea, and just in time for the last minute frenzy!