diy candle holder from silicone candle molds

just in case everyone is starting to get tired from the actual candles fix them a candle holder to spice it up (aka is this even starting the diy Christmas present season - maybe)

need

silicone molds

plaster/concrete/concrete based grout ...

a drill bit made for concrete

gloves, surface protection ....

the molds

popular question: but still not really a secret anymore. Most of the molds you can get on Ali express, they are usually affordable. just type in silicone mold for candles, soap, baking, resin ...

just make sure you look at the measurements because sometimes molds are smaller/ bigger than they seem on the pictures.

if you're not about that long of a shipping time just hop on etsy and type in same search parameters, you'll find a lot as well.

(how to get any mold into a candle mold:just take a needle and poke it through the silicone and feed the wick through with the needle)

get your plaster/ concrete ... ready

mix your medium according to the package (mine said don't use metal wich I kinda ignored until it was smelling weird)

so really just follow the instructions because as harmless as it seems, usually concrete and plaster have some kind of chemical reaction going wich makes it harden (sometimes it gets hot while reacting) so just be cautious

fill your molds and try to not work in lots of air while filling. its kinda hard to get air bubbles out once filled all the way to the top.

i felt mixing the medium rather thin avoids getting lots of air bubbles but definitely stretches the cure time.

i tapped the molds while filling on the surface like you do with cake sometimes to get the air out.

try to pop as many bubbles as possible.

i felt depending on the medium I used the outcome was different as well.

i had this idea when I had some grout leftover while I made a tile project, so i just dumped the leftover grout into a silicone mold. to get something cool out of the leftover.

this works not with every type of grout it has to be made from a concrete base, others won't be able to hold the shape, they will end up kinda crumbly

plaster seemed to work pretty good, building plaster as much as casting plaster wich is wayyy more expensive, so just pick what you fancy

the dill

once cured and de molded the only thing left is to drill a hole fitting for a candle

you can use a regular concrete bit in 10 mm to fit a small candle like these Christmas tree ones in or go all the way big around 18 mm for a full size candle.

i went with the small ones because i felt they were the right proportion for the molds, I felt full size candles would look too chunky and tall.

drill a hole on your desired place, you might need to tap out the drill hole a few times to get rid of the dust, and then your good to go lit.

i felt going super slow made the chances of pieces breaking from the edge of the drill hole smaller, so everything looks neat in the end.

if you want different colors just add acrylic paint into the water before mixing it in with the powdered plaster or concrete etc...

or just paint them afterwards, i've even thought about covering one in fake gold leaf ... get creative

when mixing paint into the plaster while wet and just swirling it in you can get cool patters like a marbled effect, or mix in small colored specs...