Thread: A material similar to wax for faux pillar candle?

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Hey boys and ghouls,

I was starting to think about next year and has the idea to make faux pillar candles but was curious to know if anyone had any suggestions for a material that when lit from the inside looks similar to wax.

I'm looking for something that's sturdy enough to use year after year (like the pvc candles) but has the opaque glow that you'd find in a real candle.

My initial thought was resin of some sort, but I'm not very knowledgable in that area and figured I'd pose the question to the group.

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions in advance!!

You could use some sort of clear, or white silicon. Smooth-on and Slipak sell silicon.

how about hot glue gun glue?

amk

I had the same thought this year but ended up going back to the reliable PVC route. One ideal I had that lingers is to get ahold of some of those clear plastic sheaths that flourescent bulbs come in and to mist them with spray paint. Cut them to size and then run hot glue (low setting to not melt the plastic) down the sides for the drips. Another coat of paint to finish it off. Ive been a bit off-put about not having that realistic candle glow as well with the PVC. I havent tried this myself, but I imagine it could work well.

There are plenty of threads here that explain the PVC pipe / hot glue method, and also the thin wall sink drain pipe to have the light glow through the body of the candle. Do a little searching, you'll find excellent photo examples of others' works.

What about the clear flourescent light tubes?

Don't know, never tried it. The thin wall sink drain PVC pipes are thin enough to get the glowing wax effect, and they're cheap enough that I didn't need to explore the clear tubing as an alternative material.

I made some using one liter shampoo bottles this year. The bottle was thick enough that the hot glue didn't melt it, but thin enough that it did have a bit of glow.

Depending on your budget, I bought 2 of these and they are great and waterproof. Once you turn them on the first night with the autotimer, they will turn on same time each night and the batteries last for @ 2 weeks! I must say I was impressed! If you buy them, keep the clear plastic protectors they are wrapped in this offered more waterproofing, and you couldn't see it unless you got very close to them.

http://www.batteryoperatedcandles.ne...ed-candle.html

the candle is in front of the RIP tombstone that has multiple skull faces on it.

I found similar ones to the above post on sale after xmas for about $4 cdn at wallmart and micheals and they were leds, I have seen white pvc tube i think its for vacuum tubing its thinner than regular pvc and is white already i have used the hot glue method with these and they do glow like real candles if painted properly after