I for one am sure obsessed with candles of all kinds. A drawer half dedicated to them tells a lot! And I came to the realization that except for the chipped oil-burner I didn’t have anything else to make use of my stash of tea-light candles. What pity! Now having seen many a beautiful colored glasses these days. I thought to myself what if I were to stain textured glasses to make my own stained votives. They have a vintage feel to them and is very much on trend. But nothing reasons with what the heart wants so here we go.
You may ask why not use glass paint instead. Unless you are sure that your glass is oven-safe or if you have the patience to wait for 21 days for the glass paint to air-dry then you may close this tab now. This is an alternative method that I found useful with my concerns.
Materials:
- Textured glasses
- Paper roll
- PVA glue (that dries clear)
- Blue food color
- Skewer to stir
- Plastic cup
- Blue tea-light candle
- Flower cutter
- Little Bowl
- Candle wicks
Steps:
Pour in glue equal to 1/3 of a regular size plastic cup. Add in two tablespoons of water to the glue for a smooth flow. To that mix in about 1-3 teaspoon of food color. The mixture here now would look somewhat sky blue but not to worry as it will eventually dry up to make for a darker shade
This step can turn into a real mess quickly. Make sure that you are in a protected area preferably with gloves on and tissue paper by your side. As, I later had to literally scrub off the stubborn stain with what I use for pans (yup that happened at least twice). Sit your glass on a sturdy paper roll (I had a long one cut into two). Slowly pour the glue mixture over the bottom rim of your glass and let it flow. You may notice that it doesn’t spread equally which is fine. Dab your skewer into some glue and fill the empty spaces as evenly as possible.
Twelve hours later, as the glue dries you will see a dark layer of blue shade form on the glass. (drying time depends on how thick the layer of glue was).
For the candle:
Melt 3-4 blue tea-light candles by heating them on a pan filled with water enough for the action. Pour it into a little bowl one by one with the wick on (I used the wicks from the tea-light candles) Let it cool down for 3-5 minutes and then take it to the freezer.
About 10-15 minutes later, when you are sure that the candle has turned solid. Gently push the flower cutter against it and remove to reveal the flower tea light candle.
What not to do:
I usually skip this section because most of the time things fall into the place in the first try. But this project took a couple of attempts to reach here.
- It is very easy to kill the color if you add too much color. The effect won’t be that of a stained glass rather solid which we could have done easily with acrylic/spray paint otherwise. If you are not sure, do make a small batch and try it onto a spare glass to see how it takes the color on.
- Make sure to use white glue that dries out transparent. Again using the wrong type of glue will give you a different result than you wished.
- Pour the glue at the exterior of the glass especially if you are using textured glass so they are covered as well for a complete look.
- Keep it away from water and you will be safe (as it will shrivel and release the color).
Unfortunately, I haven’t sourced liquid food colors in other shades of color I love which is why I have stuck to only blue. I absolutely adore these new stained candle votives. And I cannot wait to stain a few more for real. I have lit a tea-light candle inside of the votive and I am happy to say it works fine.
Let me know what you think
