Decorating Candles

When planning a special event, be it a birthday, fundraiser, or wedding, design follow-through is everything. From the card stock of the invitations to the style of the flatware handles, a comprehensive, cohesive design comes through in the details. One of the most effective, and dramatic, ways to impress your guests with your design acumen is with your candles. What are they saying to your guests? To make a real statement with your candles, decorate them!

Your candle choices are almost dizzying—choosing a color palette alone can be intimidating—but if you think of your candles as a key design element, a part of your whole aesthetic, it gets much easier to choose. If you’re uncertain of what colors to choose (and this is true of your entire design), purchase a color-wheel at an art supply store, or pick up some paint swatch cards at your local home store, to aid you in choosing complementary colors.

But color is not your only option, far from it! Now you can literally hand-craft your own custom-designs on your candles with pearls, rhinestones, or Swarovski crystals, not to mention glitters and ribbons, to create the most dramatic or romantic effect possible. Pillar candles are the best candidates for hand decoration. They have the greatest surface area and usually are the largest candles on the table. You can design them with a rhinestone harlequin pattern, swirl Swarovski crystals and rhinestones in a whimsical design, or band them with a clean, contemporary stripe, as many stones wide as you’d like. You can even cover the entire candle in rhinestones!

It is important to figure out your designs beforehand. Sketching them out on paper is recommended so you know how large or small to make the decoration and how many crystals or pearls you will need. You can even create a design stencil which you can lay over your candle and follow stone by stone.  Your guests will be wowed by the drama and obvious thought you put into every welcoming detail.