Crafty Corner

Recreate Hogwarts’ Floating Candles

Compiled by Claudia Juarez

BOO! It’s that spooky time of year again and everyone is bustling and hustling with costume ideas and scary stories to add to their eerie Halloween night.

Everything needs a spectacular introduction, whether it is for a party or for your own interest—and Harry Potter’s floating candles are the perfect decoration that can send one’s bones trembling both from fear and nostalgia.

Materials needed:

• Paper towel rolls
• LED tea lights (can be found in craft and major department stores)
• Scissors
• Pushpins
• White papers
• White/cream acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• Plastic container
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks,
• And a fishing line/illusion cord that are .25mm thick.

Instructions:

1. The paper towel rolls will be the body of the candles, so, if you want to make it look more realistic, cut them in different shapes and make sure it’s not less than six inches or it will look stubby.
2. Then, apply a layer of white paint to the paper towel rolls and make sure it is dry before proceeding. To create wax drips, you must fire up your hot glue gun, but be cautious and never touch the tip of the gun or the hot glue it emits.
3. Encircle the rim of the paper towel roll with hot glue and make sure that the drip of glue is around one to three inches. You can make the drips longer, but be careful not to add any inside of the roll since it will make it difficult to insert your LED lights. Wait about five to ten minutes for the glue to set and do not touch the glue until it is set and dry.
4. Afterwards, gather the leftover glue from the earlier process and dip the rim of the candle into the paint, making sure that all of the drips of glue are covered in white paint.
5. To string the candle, you will need to puncture two holes near the top of the candle on opposite sides with a pushpin. The tea light will be on top of the string, so make sure that the holes are ¾ of an inch away from the top of the candle. You will then weave the fishing line into both holes (make sure it is between 10 to 20 inches for all candles) and you can either tie or glue the ends of your line to make a loop.
6. Since you are adding an LED tea light inside of the paper towel roll, you will need to place the bottom of the roll over a sheet of paper, trace it with a pencil, and then cut out the circle. Once the circle is cut, glue the bottom of the paper towel roll(a glue stick would be fine) and fix the circle of paper against it so that it seals the rim of the paper towel.
7. The last step is placing the LED tea light in the top of the tube and over the string. Simply fit the tea light in the top of the paper towel roll, neither glue nor tape is required since the tea light is a perfect fit.

Extra:

If you want to hang the candles around your house, you can use tape, tulle, and foam core to paste the candles to the ceiling. However, tape and foam core do not work with textured ceilings. With tulle, using dark colors would emphasize the “spooky” aura for Halloween. You can use ornament hooks and paper clips to hang the fishing line into the tulle and you can tape the tulle to the ceiling with thin nails or two to three tension rods.

Enjoy these ominous candles and Happy Halloween!