Aesthetic Cement Candle Holder

I had some cement left from a previous project, and I wanted to make something out of it. I searched Pinterest for a while before settling on this cool looking candle holder. I like it for its' simple, modern design. It's the look I am going for.

Materials

• Cement
• Oil
• Tea candles
• Water

Tools

• Drill (optional)
• Bucket
• Scrap wood
• Paper towel
• Tin snips/Scissors
• Legos
• Hot glue gun
• Hot glue stick(s)

I already had a design in my head, so I started by building a rectangular mold for the cement. I made sure to build the walls extra high. High walls mean it's easy to move the mold and shake it to remove bubbles. Once you have the lego aspect of the mold built, add the tea light. First, remove the wax from the metal. Then, cut a fairly small part of the metal off. Using hot glue, glue the metal to the interior of the lego mold. Once the design is complete, pour oil into the mold and rotate to disperse it evenly. The oil acts to ease the release of the cement from the mold.

Mix your cement. Then pour it into the mold. My metal part (from the tea light) was not secured well enough. It started floating. To fix this, I used some scrap wood to hold it in place. When you are done pouring the cement, cover everything with some sort of cloth. The cloth is there to prevent rapid evaporation. You want the water to bond/react with the cement powder stuff. There is not possibility of this to happen if all of the water leaves.

After about 12 hours, I removed the cement from the mold. Thanks to the oil, it was very easy.

After removing the cement from the mold, sand the edges so they are smooth. Then wait another 12 hours until the cement is fully cured. Once it is fully cured, you can sand it so it's smooth.

One of my friends had the great idea of putting citronella candles in it. That way it would repel mosquitos. I hope you like the design of the candle holder. I, for one, couldn't be happier. If you have any recommendations or things to say, feel free to comment below.