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DIY by Natalia Iliana. Paper candle holder for an electric candle

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Natalia Ilina is my gust blogger again. Do you remember her previous awesome gust post with a DIY project on how to make a quilled flower? Today's project is even more fantastic! It is probably not for beginners... but if you've worked with paper before you will enjoy it for sure!

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Hi, Natalia is here again! 

I hope I am not the only one whom this happens to.. When I come across a craft that is new to me, I get carried away with it and wish to challenge myself, so I start with a project that is not simple. 

Just before the New Years day I was helping to decorate the windows in my daughter's classroom,  I got carried away with the paper art and kirigami. I started collecting patterns and diagrams... Then, among the heap of the collected photos I saw it... It was a delicate candle holder made of what it seemed to me like paper. I was able to find neither the author nor the pattern. That did not stop me in my decision to make it! 

I just needed a good reason for it. Soon I got it. My daughters' God mother had a birthday coming just before the St.Valentine's Day. She had a taste for fine artistic things. Every year we tried to give her something that would make her happy and added an item to compliment her interior design. A decorative candle holder would make a perfect gift for her!

I could not find any patterns for the candle holder's petals, so I had to come up with my own design. I chose the colors (they needed to be bronze and black to fit in her interior. I chose to give bronze color to the candle holder and black color to the box for it. I could not find cardboard that was dense enough or the right color, so I used regular white cardboard and then painted it.

Prior to the final work I made a few paper models where the petals were arranged in the sets of 3, 4 and 5. I liked the arrangement with the set of 4 petals the best. 

When I was already finished I managed to find the original picture that inspired me. Here it is: 



You will need:

- The desire to make a ton of paper cuts;
- X-acto knife and cutting mat;
- 4 white A4 cardboard sheets of 160 g / m² density for the petals and 1 sheet for the base to attach them to.
- 1 A4 sheet of  brown color sheet;
- 4  A4 sheets of black color paper;
- Binding cardboard (I bought a sheet 3" by 2");
- A ruler
- PVA glue and colorless multi-purpose glue;
- Double sided tape;
- 2' of thick black oilcloth 1'' wide for the design of the box folds;
- Acrylic bronze paint;
- Nylon thread and beads;
- Electric candle (in my case it is a small flashlight with a flat back Swarovski crystal).

1. First you will need to print the templates and cut out the petals:


The pattern is printed without frame. It will take 4 sheets, each of which will be for the three petals. You will get 12 petals:




Note: make sure that your printer is set up for printing on cardboard.

Keep the cuttings, you will need them for the decor later.


2. When the petals are ready you may paint them. It is best to paint the petals while holding them in your hand with no support from underneath. The cardboard gets soaked by the paint (I also diluted it with water), the petals might just stick to the surface. 


I dried the painted petals on the sock drier:


The dried petals were quick to roll up. Acrylics respond well to ironing. So, iron them, use lower number 1 setting and place a white sheet of paper between the petals and the iron. Petals will become smooth and dense. I painted them one more time, dried and ironed. Then I varnished them with acrylic lacquer (it is not necessary, though, I saw no difference), dried and ironed them one more time.



3. Make the bases for attaching the petals to. Use a sheet of conventional cardboard (density 160 g / sq m)


The inner base is a proper size to fit a candle.
The middle base and outer base differ from each other by a 1/4''.
I painted and dried them before I continued:



4. I glued the petals to the bases using transparent multi-purpose glue:


5. I put the "flower" together. The petals need to be positioned in a checkerboard order. I fastened the bases together using thick double-sided adhesive tape to create a some volume.


Although it would be better to glue them to each other using the glue. Why? Because when you use glue, you can still adjust the bases if you did not not place them perfectly right away. I wish I though about it before...


6. The box is made like a «Magic-box». I used binding cardboard, black colored paper, black oilcloth, PVA glue and transperent multi-purpose glue. Here are the box parts:


I glued black paper to all the parts:






The binding cardboard tends to brake at the folds, so I used thick black oilcloth and transparent multi-purpose glue to design the folds.




7. I attached brown color paper on the inside of the box. I used thin double-sided tape for that:
(4 pieces the size of 15 cm. by 6.5 cm).


Remember the cuttings? Here they are, painted with the bronze color paint:


8. Cut the lid's parts. I attached them together with black color paper and pieces of cardboard that I placed at the corners for strength.




I added a heart decorate to the lid. The heart is cut out of the binding cardboard:


9. I glued the candle holder to the box. You could make it removable by attaching a piece of metal to the candle holder and a magnetic sheet to the box. 


10. I was not able to buy electric candles in my area, so I used a small  LED flashlight 4 cm in  height (5/8")


I had to make a holder for the flashlight out of a cardboard tube.

Also note, that the flashlight emits light just one direction (up).


The light needs to be emitted in different directions, just like the light from a real candle. I used one little trick to achieve that. I bought two flat back Swarovski crystals (blue and yellow). The base is coated, so you would need to remove the coating with a knife. 


Another option is to use a faceted perfume bottle:



This is how it looks like when it is in its box:




This is another candle holder that I painted blue. There are three Swarovski crystals here set on different levels to help light to spread in different directions:




Thank you all for attention! I hope you will be able to use this DIY instruction to create a gift for your loved ones. I wish you to succeed!

Natalia Ilina

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