Inexpensive Paper Mache Snail Candle Holder

This snail can hold many different things besides a candle in a glass bowl. You can put a plant, keys, jewelry, scrunchies, crystals, etc. in the glass bowl! You also don't even need to use the bowl and can use any bowl you have or can even put a potted plant on it as a "shell". Be creative with how you use this snail! I hope you love it.

Paper
Flour
Water
Scissors
Mixing bowl
Aluminum foil
Glass bowl from Dollar Tree
A candle from Dollar Tree
Rocks you find outside
Acrylic paint
Paint brush
Moss (optional and also from Dollar Tree)
Hot glue gun (optional)
Hot glue
Lighter (optional if you're using a candle)

The first step is to get your aluminum foil and roll it up and crinkle it into this long worm shape. Keep adding foil until you get the thickness you desire and then bend it upward into a snail shape. The thicker the shape is, the harder it is to bend though so you can also bend it and add foil to the bent shape but the reason I didn't do that was because it became more difficult to continuously wrap it in foil evenly.

Lay your glass bowl on top and see how it looks, then use the bowl or a cup and smash the foil down a bit to flatten that part of the snail a little so that your bowl sits flat against the snail's body.

The most basic paper mache recipe is to mix flour and water together in a bowl until it becomes a runny cake batter consistency. Then you cut your paper into strips..I used a McDonald's bag because it's what I had on hand. Nextly, dunk a strip of paper in the paper mache one at a time and wipe off most of the liquid and then slap it on your snail shape! This step takes the most time in my opinion so make sure to put a movie on while you do this.

You want to cover the foil shape in at least 3 layers of wet paper. What I did was I crunched up some of the paper to make eye shapes, as well as the bottom part of the snail that sticks to the ground. I also made a rectangle shaped platform for my candle holder. This takes time and you just have to eyeball what you're doing and mess with it until you're satisfied with the shape. Let this dry for 1-2 days and you're onto step 3!

I used a green, brown and bronze acrylic paint to accomplish this look. Firstly, I painted the whole body with a mixture of brown and green and let that dry. Then I very lightly went over that in random spots with a darker mixture of the same green and brown but addes more brown and let it dry and finally I lightly painted stripes using the bronze acrylic paint. But you can paint your snail however you like.

The next thing I did was to glue moss I got from Dollar Tree onto the body randomly using a hot glue gun and glue sticks. This is optional but I think it adds a little something special and what would be even more whimsical is if you added glitter or crystals as well but you don't need all that to have a great looking snail.

I decided to use this round mini fishbowl from Dollar Tree as a shell for my snail because I figured I can easily change out what I want to display in it. What I did was I placed a Dollar Tree candle in the middle of the bowl and found rocks in my backyard, washed them off and carefully places them around the candle so that they hold the candle in place. Then you sit that on top of your paper mache snail and you're done! The end result is very cute and naturey but if you don't want to display a candle in it then you can also display a plant, jewelry, crystals, makeup, or use it as a catchall for keys or lip balm, etc.

The ideas are endless and you can even use the snail as a crystal sphere holder, if you're into crystals like I am. Have fun with your new baby! Lol