Red Bull Concrete Casting Candle Holder

What Inspired me?

If you have seen a couple of my other Instructables, you will have noticed that I love obscure materials such as pallet wood, concrete and metal. I love using these in weird but wonderful projects such as phone holders, lamps and jewellery. This is my second Concrete Candle holder.

What will you need?

- a long narrow can such as red bull or emerge

- Concrete (cement sand and water)

- Three jars, one for sand, water and cement.

- something to mix with

- A candle

- Scissors

Step one - Making the mould

Now, this step is just like any other making the mould steps ive done, but remember this is a vivid guide and feel free to change it up. The basic principle Is the same. You can make the mould round, flat, square, small or tall. Its completely up to you and what you want to do.

Anyway, this is how I made my mould. After my Red Bull can was empty, I used warm water and washing liquid to clean out the insides. This involved submerging the entire can under the water for a few seconds while it filled with the warm water. After that, I began pouring the water out and completed this a few times. After leaving it to dry, i then grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the can to the correct length. This was 4-5cm but feel free to change the height.

Step Two - Mixing the concrete

Depending on what materials you have depends on this step. You can get all sorts of colours, finishes, tones and types of concrete. Snow-Crete looks great as its white tone is modern but rustic. I used plain cement, sand and concrete. But you can get ready mixed concrete which is much better.

Empty about one cup of cement into a bucket. Empty one cup of sand into the same bucket and then mix until you get a nice grey coloured mixture. When you are happy with the colour, add one cup of water. Mix well until you get a smooth thick liquid. If you don't think it looks as thick as in the pictures, add more sand or cement mix.

You can add different chemicals to the paint such as pain, stones, glass or dyes. This enhances the dull grey colour of your concrete.

Step three - pouring the mix

The difficulty of Pouring the concrete depends on what you are pouring the concrete mix into. If the container/mould is small and narrow, it will be difficult. If the container/mould is large then pouring will be an easy process.

When the concrete has been mixed and you're happy with the overall consistency, you are ready to pour. Place the bucket close if not over your mould, using your mixing tool, begin to push a bit of the mix In to the mould. Only add about 2cm then tap the mould onto the table to ensure the bottom us covered completely. Begin to add more until your mould is 3/4 full.

Insert the candle, into the mould making sure it doesn't hit the bottom. If the candle gets pushed out, add coins or a little weight to the candle to make sure it stats in place.

Bang the mould onto the work surface softly until the top surface becomes smooth and flat. Feel free to add your own touch here. You can make it smooth, rough, uneven or tapered.

Step four - Waiting for the Concrete to set

When you have finished pouring the concrete into the mould and you are happy with the positioning of the candle, then just sit back and wait for the concrete to set. Depending on the amount of water you added, the time taken for the concrete to set will either be between 2-24hours. But if you put a lot of water in the mix, your concrete will be very soft, and may even crumble. Wait a day and check to see if the concrete has set.

Finished!!!!

When the concrete has set, take the mould off. You can do this by either using scissors and cutting the metal can. When the mould is off, use a small brush to get rid of any unwanted concrete.

Well-done! you have done it! You have made your every own Cast concrete candle holder!!!!

You can really have fun with this, change the size, shape and depth of the can and the colour or type of concrete.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you liked it! Please favourite and follow my account. Ill be adding different projects every week. Comment below if you have an idea for me to try, a feature I can improve it just to tell me what you think. Thank you!