(Harry Potter Inspired) Custom Printed Candles

These cute candles are such a nifty little make. They are quick and simple to make, cheap (only using stuff you find around the house) infinitely customiseable, and they look great! They are one of my go-to gifts for all of these reasons. These are some Harry Potter inspired candles that I made for my friend - but the beauty of these is that you can make literally any design you like!

You will need:

• Pillar candles (I get mine from a certain well-known Swedish furniture store)
• Access to a computer
• Access to an inkjet printer
• Plain white tissue paper
• Sheet of paper
• Tape
• Wax paper (has to be wax paper - not freezer paper, baking paper or similar)
• Access to a heat gun

Step 1: Find Your Graphics

First, you need to find the graphics that you want to print on your candle. I chose an owl graphic and typed a quote out from one of the books. Measure your candle to figure out how big your image should be and resize your graphics to fit (I used photoshop, but any free graphics software or even office software will be able to do this).

Step 2: Print

You need to print the image directly onto the tissue paper. The easiest way to do this is to stick the tissue paper down flat onto another sheet of paper then feed it through the printer. It will need to be an inkjet printer - you won't be able to do this with a laser copier or photocopier.

Once printed, cut your images out. The simplest way to do this is just cut around the tissue and the paper you fed it through the printer with together, as the tissue paper is quite flimsy otherwise.

Step 3: Melt It!

Cut a piece of wax paper to reach around the circumference of your candle, covering the tissue paper graphic completely. Place the tissue paper in position on the candle, cover it with the wax paper, and stretch taut at the back of the candle so that both lay flat against its surface. Holding the wax paper down from as far away as possible, use the hot air gun to heat it up. Work quickly and keep the gun moving: the goal is to melt the wax from the wax paper so that it soaks the tissue paper and bonds it to the candle, but not melt the candle itself. The wax paper will turn shiny, and you will see the colour of the tissue paper beneath change slightly when it is done.

Peel off and discard the wax paper, then sit back and marvel that you can do something so awesome so quickly!