Ashley Gessler SHD {Sweaty Horse Designs}: Making printed candles

When I was looking for a way to make custom candles, I typed "candles custom" into YouTube and found this super neat technique!

This photo was taken while the candles were still warm.

I've been making these for well over a year now and have finally somewhat perfected my technique.

So here's what you do:

Start with white or cream colored candles. (I like the kinds with a really soft wax... the kind you can scratch easily. The wax melts much more evenly, so spend a little more and buy the $12 candle instead of the $6 or cheaper brands. I generally wait and buy mine at Hobby Lobby when they're half-off.)

You'll also need:

Plain white tissue paper

Scotch tape

Computer paper

Wax paper

Lay the candle down on a piece of computer paper and mark the candle's size. Decide how long and wide you want the image to be.

Insert your chosen image into your word processor. Adjust the Page Layout to match your paper (either Landscape or Profile). Hold your computer paper with the candle size marking against the screen and adjust the Zoom until the page on the screen is the same width as the computer paper.

Okay. Once that is done... resize your image until it fills your candle's size markings.

With a new sheet of computer paper, you want to cut your tissue paper to a slightly larger size. Check your tissue paper. There is a lightly shiny side as well as a dull side. You want the shiny side to be against your computer paper so your image will be printed on the dull side. Fold over the edges and scotch tape the tissue paper onto the back of the computer paper.

Insert your paper tissue-side down into your printer (depending on your personal printer).

This is a good tutorial I found on YouTube.

Print your image onto the tissue paper. I always allow mine to dry for a minute or two before messing with them. Consider me paranoid.

Cut out your image while it's still attached to the computer paper. It makes the tissue paper less-likely to tear. Test it on your candle. Trim and make adjustments as necessary, then the fun begins!

I use a regular old hair dryer with a concentrator nozzle for all of my candles. Use HIGH heat and HIGH speed.

Lay your tissue and wax paper aside. You won't need them for a few minutes. Begin blowing your candle to warm the wax. Continue warming until a slight moisture is barely visible on the surface of the wax. This is not warm enough for the wax to bead or run, just lightly warm to the touch. I can tell by how "oily" the candle feels to my fingers, but you'll be able to judge better with the more you do.

When the candle is sufficiently warm, add your trimmed tissue paper taking care to smooth out wrinkles and gently pull it taut around the candle. Wrap your wax paper around the candle and begin blowing with your hair dryer.

As you heat the wax, the wax will melt and saturate the tissue paper and seemingly leave the printed image on the surface. Be extremely leery of bubbles or wrinkles in your tissue paper as you work. When the wax cools, wrinkles have always appeared on the surface of my candles. With practice, I have been able to minimize their appearance, but unable to eliminate them completely. Please, if anyone knows some trick to preventing them, please share your knowledge!

I like to start in the middle and work either to the right or the left.

This tutorial is the one I watched to develop my own technique.

If your image is designed to wrap the entire way around the candle, make sure one end is completely saturated with wax before working on the other side.

Once your tissue is completely saturated with wax, allow the candle to cool for several hours and then you're done!

It's during the cooling process that my tissue paper inevitably wrinkles. If you know or figure out how to prevent this, PLEASE SHARE YOUR SECRET WITH ME!