Photo Candle

Another cheap, easy & unique gift for those who have everything!

Plus the process is quite peaceful & hypnotic ;)

Please note this Instructable uses a hair dryer & you will need to take extra care to avoid fire or burn hazards around you whilst working - if you need to take a break or if anything feels unsafe, cease action immediately

You'll need:

For the pic;

- Tissue paper

- Piece of card

- Printer (and a photo in mind!)

- Spray adhesive

For the rest;

- plain wax candle (I buy packs of 5 at Ikea, so suffice it to say they're mid range quality & work great!)

- scissors

- hair dryer

- wax/baking paper

To print your pic; spray a light 'tacky' surface of glue onto your card & apply the tissue carefully. Don't use too much glue as your tissue will tear when taking it off. Feed the card through the printer to print your pic & give it a few moments to dry before removing it.

Cut the pic to size to suit your candle (just fyi; I use PowerPoint to size my photo to suit the candle before printing).

Cut off a piece of wax/baking paper that wraps around your candle 1.5 times.

Have your hair dryer ready (preferably on a heat resistant mat or workbench as not to create any unnecessary hazards); Line up your tissue on the candle & wrap it carefully over with the wax/baking paper (pictured), grip it firmly and comfortably around the back of the candle.

With your dryer, commence carefully heating a section of candle until you see the surface liquefy (you will notice this by a darkening of colour as in the attached pic). Basically the wax is melting through the tissue paper to hold it to the candle surface!

Keep note though not to heat for too long or you may start to create dents in your candle; as soon as it changes colour, you're done! Keep going until you've finished from edge to edge. oh, also keep in mind not to remove the wax paper too often as you can lose track of where you've done & it can also not work as well. If you need to, replace with a new piece of wax paper.

Enjoy :D