Mini Cake Candles

This autumn, I am beginning my candlemaking 
by creating small "high cakes" ... I've got more 
"in the oven," but wanted to share some of these 
in the meantime! 

 

 

 

This is a mini crumb cake ... 

Halloween Floating "Eyes" & Full Moon Gel Candles

The time of year is coming up to start thinking 
about novelty candles for the autumn season.  
If you are looking for a new idea, you may wish 
to create a different type of gel candle ... this one 
is a jar full of "eyes" for Halloween.  I made this 
candle years ago and it's still holding up!  

My "jar of eyes" candle ... gee, what a kooky idea 
that was! ... is scented with green apple scent, 
but there are many scents that go with this design. 
And, your "eyes" don't have to be green!  

If you would like to make such a candle, you will 
need a bonbon type of candy mold, some marbles, 
some hurricane candle (high melt point ... I think 
it's around 165 degrees) paraffin wax and all of your 
gel candle essentials.  The high melt point wax is 
important, as you don't want your wax to melt when 
your gel is poured, plus it will hold up better over 
time and won't become too cloudy.  This candle 
became a little cloudy over time, but it's been 
several years.  

To make the eyes, you simply place the marble
in the base of the bonbon mold ... this mold might 
be referred to as a cherry bonbon.  Pour your wax 
over the marble ... it's best to allow wax to cool 
just a bit before pouring into plastic candy molds
so you don't warp the mold.    When your marble 
bonbons are cooled, release them from the mold. 
If wax is covering the marble, which will most 
likely be the case, you can scrape it off, being 
careful to not scratch your marble, or melt it 
off carefully with a heat gun ... but, a hot spoon 
can also help move the wax away from the 
marble so the glass "eye" is exposed. 

My gel was colored a light color green ... be careful 
to not color this too dark!  It's also important to make 
sure your gel is not too hot when pouring ... allow to 
cool a bit, and pour your candle slowly.

To fill the jar with the bonbons, I first poured 
some gel into the jar and turned it all around to 
coat the entire inside of the jar with a thin layer 
of gel after securing my wick. Then I positioned
some of the "eyes" in the jar and poured some 
slightly cooled gel over them, adding more eyes
and more gel until the jar was filled with the 
"eyes" to about a half inch from the top ... then
I poured enough gel to give the top of the candle
a level surface.  My candle cooled on a sunny 
windowsill, and had very few bubbles!  Just a 
bunch of eyes staring out at me!

Another design that may interest you also employs
a candy mold ... this one being a thin mint type of
mold.  This "full moon" candle may give you lots of 
ideas!

After the wick was secured, the inside of the jar 
was coated with gel ... then some gravel was 
carefully sprinkled in the bottom.  
Another inside layer was poured, although this 
time, the "moon" was pressed into the gel up 
against the glass immediately ... then, another 
layer was poured, with the jar tilted in all 
directions so gel encased the moon, with a 
bit of glitter for embellishment.  Finally, 
the remainder of the candle was poured. 
The moon doesn't really start to glow until 
the candle has burned down a little, but when 
the flame gets into the center of the candle, 
it really has a nice effect!