How to Make Glowing Pressed Flower Candle Holders
Try using colors and other flowers that represent a season; lots of reds and greens for Christmastime, for example, or light pink petals for spring. Grace your table with these and you’ll receive dozens of compliments throughout the season.
The Pressed Flower Holders
Once flowers and leaves have been pressed, they become thinner and light can shine through them easily. We’re going to use this fact to create a gorgeous candle holder.
Materials:
Several Pressed Flowers and/or Leaves
Clear Glass Votive Cup
Tissue Paper (white works best)
Decoupage Solution
Small Foam Brushes
How-To:
Gather the pressed flowers you want to use. If you don’t know how to press flowers, check out my article that offers even instructions on making a simple – but professional – flower press. Don’t have enough time? Don’t worry! Check out the arts and crafts section of your local department store, or head right to the scrapbooking section of a crafts store. Scrapbooking suppliers know the beauty of pressed flowers, and you can pick up dozens of them for very little money.
Once you have gathered your flowers and leaves, lay them out on a flat surface. Think of the votive holder as a flat piece of glass – how would you like the flowers and leaves to be arranged? Come up with a series of small bouquets, or several stringing lengths of flowers – how it looks is up to you, but if you lay it all out beforehand, you’ll be much happier with the final results.
Brush a thin layer of decoupage solution around the outside of your votive cup using a foam brush. Try to coat the cup evenly, but not thickly. Now, transfer your floral arrangement from the flat surface onto your cup. You’ll want to work fairly quickly, because the decoupage solution can dry fast. Make sure that you press the flowers fully onto the solution, so that they are firmly attached.
After you have pressed all your flowers and leaves around the glass, brush another thin layer of glue on top of the arrangement. Press lightly around the edges of flower petals so that they don’t tear – instead of “brushing” over the pressed leaves, blot the solution onto them. Allow this thin layer to dry completely.
While you’re waiting for the solution to dry, begin tearing your tissue paper into small pieces. Irregular shapes work best – not exactly square, not exactly round. Let the edges tear off raggedly. This will give a lot of interest to the finished piece.
Now that the solution is all dry, spread a second layer of decoupage solution over the cup. Use just enough that it will hold the tissue paper firmly, but not so thick that it will create a mess. Lay the pieces of paper on the glass, overlapping the edges. Keep adding paper and glue until the entire glass is covered, with the floral arrangement peeking through.
Drop a pretty tea light candle into your dried votive and light it up!
