Halloween Candles, Take Two



Yesterday I shared a tutorial for this little Mod Podge Halloween votive. After trying it out, I decided that it would be just a bit too "fiddly" for the patients that I have right now so I started pondering how to get a similar look that was a bit more straight forward.

I started thinking about a post I had seen over the summer on Gingerbread Snowflakes about using Mod Podge and food coloring to make luminaries and glassware. So I went back to Pam's blog to take a look and they were just as fabulous as I remembered- hit the link here to go take a peek but don't forget to come back for my Halloween version (yes, Pam has alot of really great things on her blog and you'll be easily distracted).

Here is the "less fiddly" version that I came up with using colored Mod Podge.


You'll need:

A small candle votive
Mod Podge
Food coloring- red and yellow
Wax paper
Brush
Black scrapbook or construction paper
Small container

Clean your votive and turn it upside down on the wax paper.

Pour a very small amount - like 2 tablespoons- of Mod Podge into your little container. I used one of those Glad disposable containers that I never dispose of.

Just in case you're wondering, this project goes much more smoothly if you don't drop the cap to the food coloring into your Mod Podge. I'm just sayin' ...

I started out with one drop of red food coloring and two of yellow.

It was too light and knowing that this dries much lighter and translucent...

... I added two more red and one yellow.

And then I added some more. The total came to five red and five yellow drops of food coloring.

Start painting on the Mod Podge. Some of the folks who have done this discuss things like stippleing and other techniques to get rid of the brush marks. For this project though, I thought the brush markers could serve as the vertical ribbing on the pumpkin so I didn't worry about them and there's no need for you too either.

Once the votive was coated with a nice layer, I put the lid on the Glad container and saved it just in case.

Sure enough, it dried nice and translucent but I wanted it darker so the color would stay nice and pumpkin-y when the candle was lit. So I added a second coat.

This time I added the facial features  to the pumpkin that I cut with the CriCut. Remember, he's upside down. It's OK to coat over the facial features with the colored Mod Podge as it dries translucent.

It looks like one hot spooky mess right now, doesn't it?

Follow the same steps as before to trim the edge of the rim with an exacto knife and add glitter glue around the opening at the top.

And Wa-La!

Now he looks pretty spiffy! The color is a bit deeper with this guy than with the tissue paper votive. I suppose you could tint the Mod Podge for the tissue paper version if you wanted but that seems kind of redundant. Maybe it would give some vertical pumpkin ribbing. Oh man-- now I have to make another one to see .....

There is definitely a difference in texture between the two versions.

Now, because I just have to play with the possibilities, I made another version using plain old Elmer's Glue.

I didn't use as much food coloring (start with two red and four yellow) and the colors right away appeared to be brighter. I knew from a test patch that I did the other day that the white glue does not dry as translucent as the Mod Podge when tinted so I held off with the facial features and let the first coat dry completely.

The white glue tries translucent but without the brush marks.

So I added another coat plus the facial features.

And there is our third little pumpkin. Pardon the messy glitter glue on the rim but I was rushing things along with the hair dryer and, well... things happen.

As you can see, each of our triplets has its own personality. The tissue paper guy(bottom) born first, is a bit rustic. The second pumpkin born has an old world glass look to him while the last of our triplets is smooth and almost modern with his frosty opacity.

Even when lit they have subtle but distinct differences. I guess it all comes down to what you have available- just run with it.

The surprise of how it comes out is half the fun!

Thanks for working through this project with me and please stop back again.