Without visiting a huge party supply store your choices are rather limited when it comes to purchasing ordinary stick candles for a birthday cake. The tiny pillar candles are sold in boxes of several but are usually only available in a few colors. Those kinds of candles had their day but have become somewhat boring over the years. This year, you can easily make birthday candles in neon colors, elegant gold or a variety of other choices instead of using the same old stick candles or spending too much at a specialty store.
Even if youve never made candles, and you dont want to deal with melting wax and pouring molds, you can still make beautiful birthday candles without any of the hassle or mess. If you have tried your hand at making candles, but youve never made stick candles, you have a choice of melting your own wax or going a different route. Any time you melt and color your own wax you save money over alternative methods of making candles. However, non-crafters will find it much easier to choose an alternative method.
Most any craft store carries a variety of beeswax sheets which make creating candles a breeze. Usually sold by the sheet the wax is just a flat, thin piece which is very pliable. Available in many different colors the beeswax is simply cut and wrapped around the wick. You cant get any easier than that! Cut the wicks to the size you want them to be then cut the wax. Each piece of wax you cut should be a hair shorter than the wick itself and wide enough to wrap once around the wick. Position the wick on the wax and roll it until the two ends of the wax meet. Press together and the candle is finished! If you enjoy crafting you might choose to go the longer route towards making stick candles. You can make fake beeswax sheets yourself then use them for all sorts of candle projects. Use a piece of bubble wrap to accomplish this. The piece you cut should have the small bubbles and should be slightly longer and wider than a cookie sheet. Lay the bubble wrap on the cookie sheet with the bubbles facing upward. Melt ordinary paraffin in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Color it how you will with candle tints from a craft store or old crayons from your childs toy box. After coloring the wax pour it over the bubble wrap. After the wax cools enough so that you can handle it, but is still slightly warm, remove it from the cookie sheet and peel away the bubble wrap. Your fake beeswax sheet is finished! Use some of it to make the birthday candles then use the rest to create other candles. Simply roll pieces of wax around the wicks to make any pillar candle. Wrap just a couple of pieces and make a tall, slender candle or wrap another and another piece until you have a chunky pillar candle. To make striped candles cut pieces of the wax sheet from different colors. Lay one piece on the table, then lay another color beside it, and another color beside it. Make sure each strip is touching the previous one and that they are butted together. Position the wick and wrap. If youll be making a thick candle its not necessary to do this each time. If you want, you can wrap the candle again and again in the same color, then use the different colors only for the outside layer of the candle. Its really easy to make birthday candles if you purchase the beeswax sheets, but if you make your own, youll have a lot of fun and end up with great candles as well. Everyone will notice the wildly colored candles youve created and theyll all want to know where you got them. But, youre not giving away any secrets, right?
