Spooky Candle Holder

Hi,
I thought that theme based candle holders would be a good idea. It would be a seasonal item, so it should not be too expensive, but good looking and original.

Spooky candle holders for the table decoration or house decoration were the plan. I decided to take a skull head as base, but I think that other forms or themes with the same principle of construction (spiders, gravestones, pumpkins.....) will be possible.

Have fun in building it.

First, I had to draw a skull head. My drawing capabilities are limited, but that is no problem, only a small obstacle. I searched in the internet after skull heads, to get an Idea. First, I had to decide the dimensions of my candle holder and I drew a rectangle of this size as a reference.

I roughly copied the outline of a skull and added the eyes, the nose and the mouth. I looked at various images on the internet to inspire myself, but did not want to take someone else's work. If you set yourself small goals, you learn to handle the different programs and you can attack on larger projects.

When I was satisfied with the form of my skull graphic, I inserted the space for the candle part. First a rectangle with the correct dimensions and the positions of the small pins that contain the actual candle holders were defined. After this, the straight lines of the rectangle were deleted and with the freeline-tool I made it look, like it was broken out of the head.

The base was simpler. A few circles, lines and trimming, and I had a bone looking design. After duplicating it, I made it look like a cross. I added an oval middle part, with a slot to join the two parts. For the stability, a second oval part with slot has been drawn.

You can download the dxf file here in this step. Feel free to change it to your liking or requirements.

The link to the open source software I used in this project:Qcad

I decided to use 3mm mdf wood, because it's very smooth after painting.

A laser cutter was used for the parts, but it should be possible to get the same result with a jigsaw

First, the bottom part of the candle holder is glued with wood or hot glue to the head. After this you need to glue the second round part to the upper pins of the head.

The ten small sticks have to be glued into the provided slots.There is no need to clean the glue spots, because later on, it will look like candle wax.

The base is made out of two parts, that have to be glued together.

The head and the base can be mounted together now, but I decided to do the paint job first.

The whole parts were painted with gloss black spray paint. No primer was used because the result did not have to be perfect.

Silver acrylic paint was lightly rubbed over the surface with a cloth. The result is a metallic look.

The cloths I use, are mostly made out of old T-shirts, which I have torn in pieces.

If not already done, take glue and put the head and the base together.

Drops of hot glue were added as candle wax and painted with red acrylic paint. If there are small defects or bumps in the wood, simply add a little bit of fake wax.

Do not use real candles!

An open fire in buildings, is mostly a bad idea.

Use these cheap electric candles. They flicker like real ones, and the batteries will work for a long time in continuing. They last long enough for a party or a dinner.

Simply add a few drops of hot glue to the top and paint them red.

I did the same for a few other projects, and I'm happy with this solution.

Here the finished candle holder.

If you want, you can pass one or two layers of transparent varnish over it, but it's not necessary

I personally love the metallic look.

What I learned from this project: Don't be afraid of experimenting with colors, sometimes the result is stunning.

I had built six of them, and they were a great table decoration for our Halloween party, but I think, we have ghosts at home. After my visitors were gone, five of my new skull candle holders had disappeared ;)

Hopefully you like this creation and the building instructions

Regards

Alain