I have always been fascinated by sand candles, but never really attempted to create one, so I thought I better change that. Well, I don’t know why I waited so long as it was really easy to create, wasn’t very messy and was rather an enjoyable experiment.

I have put together a how to series so that you might also give it a try.

You will need:

Wax

Wick

Candle colouring

River/Sea sand slightly damp

Container or bucket to hold sand

Tin to melt wax

A skewer or old spoon to stir the wax

Fill your container with the sand and remove the clumps. Push your desired form into the sand. I have pushed out three holes in the base so that I can have a cauldron-looking candle.

Add any other indentations that you may desire, remember as you fill in the wax it will fill up all holes. I have added some sea shells and glass beads which I pushed into the sand, but not too far inside, because you want it to still adhere to the candle.

Push the waxed wick into the base of the sand so that it sits firmly and stands upright.

Carefully pour your wax in to your sand imprint. I decided to make my candle two-toned so the bottom half is filled with black wax. If you decide to do different tones with this candle, I would advise that you allow the first colour to set a bit before you add the next colour. I carefully laid a skewer close to the wick to keep it standing upright.

When the first colour has set, melt the second colour and pour that on top of the first colour. If you are doing a single coloured candle you would miss this step out and have filled your form to the top with your initial colour.

Allow to cool completely. Then you can pull your finished candle out of the sand. You could leave the sand clinging to the outside as this also looks quite nice, or using a paint brush, sweep the remaining sand off your finished candle. You may find that your beads or shells might fall off, you can just glue these on with a drop of craft glue, or a drop of melted wax.