Spooky Candle Picture Frame

An easy to build Halloween decoration. You can use mdf or plywood for this build.

This simple Led-candle-picture-frame with spooky family portraits, will create a Creepy atmosphere.

I use the old Sketchup 8 software to design a 3D object of my idea, to check the dimensions, and if everything will fit together. Saves me a lot of trial and error time.

When I'm happy with the result, I draw a 2D sketch in Qcad.

You can use a jigsaw for the wood parts or a laser cutter.

Here you see the two parts. The oval main frame and the candle holder

Stick the small parts with glue in the holes of the bottom part, and then glue the upper part on in. Looks nice, the candle cage.

You can use the frame, without the candle holders. You have just to remove the 2 rectangle holes from the frame in the dxf file.

You can glue small wood pieces or other stuff on the frame, to decorate it. Glue and sand are an option too

I glued paper reliefs, made out of cardboard on the frame.

Everything is spray painted with black glossy color. Then use gold, copper or silver acrylic color and wipe it slightly with a paper towel over the surface. This will give the frame an old creepy metallic look.

Do the same for the candle holders.

After this use two layers of transparent varnish.

Don't use real candles. The risk of fire is too high!!!

Use these cheap electric candles from the dollar store, and put a little bit of hot glue on the top. Now paint them with red acrylic color. On the candle holder add also a few drops of hot glue and paint it with the same red color. Looks great?

Now a little bit of Gimp Magic.

I made a small Video and a few pictures to show you, that it is very easy to create a spooky portrait.

Link to the video

First, you will need a selfie and then the software gimp to change it. In the pictures, you can see other simple effects.

This video and the photos are more to show you the concept of modifying pictures.
As you can see, I also had several failures, before the result was acceptable

Never give up, never surrender (Galaxy Quest)

For the back-panel I used cardboard. Drawing the inner circle of the frame and adding 15-20 mm. Then cut it out.

Take one of your printed portraits and cut it out too. Use adhesive tape to attach it to the cardboard.

As glass I took the semitransparent part of the plastic folders and taped them over the picture. I could not find these picture hangers that you can glue on the backside, in my mess, so I used duct tape as a hanger.

Here is the final result.

As I mentioned before, do not use real candles!

Happy Halloween