Homemade Plaster of Paris Candle Holders- Without Special Molds

The candle holders we painted at Anneliese's birthday party.
They're really supposed to all be as deep as
 the one on the left, but I ran out of plaster and the stores were closed...

When I was planning Anneliese's birthday party, I decided that I wanted to be decorating candle holders at the party, and I specifically had plaster candle holders in mind. I looked at stores and I looked online, both locally and abroad, to try to find molds to make my own homemade candle holders, but had absolutely no luck finding anything, let alone something inexpensive that I liked...

So I decided to try and figure out how to make my own plaster of Paris candle holders, without any special molds. I'd wing it.

It took me a few tries- I think I trashed 3 versions- before I finally figured out how to make these.
Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and get it right the first time...

I made mine flower shaped because I had flower shaped silicon molds, but you don't need that- if you even have silicon muffin tins or even disposable plastic cups, you can make these. I just wanted to make it "girly" enough for my "girly" so I made them flowered, but just plain round candle holders is fine as well. If you have a loaf pan or other larger molds like other silicon baking pans, you can make candle holders that hold many candles, not just one.

The type of candles that I like to use are tea lights, so I made mine the right size for tea lights. If you like taller tapered candles, for example, you would just need to adjust the size of the holes to account for that.

The kids all loved painting them at the party, and I think they look rather cute, if I may say so myself!


Equipment:
A mold
Plaster of Paris powder
Bottle caps- slightly larger than your candle
Oil/fat, ideally one solid at room temperature
Mixing containers
Mixing spoon

Instructions:
1. Make sure your candle can fit inside your bottle cover- you need it large enough or it won't work.

2. Oil the outside- top and sides- of your bottle cover. You don't want it soaking or dripping, but you want it to be slippery enough to come out easily.

3. Mix your plaster of Paris powder with enough water to make a loose paste. Don't make too much at one time.

4. Pour your plaster into your mold, but not all the way to the top. The height of the plaster will go up during the next step.

5. Position your bottle cover carefully into the center of the plaster mold, and slowly push it down into the plaster, submerging it almost to the very top. You want to do it slowly enough that it doesn't splatter and that the plaster stays level all around the bottle cover, but not too slowly that the plaster hardens and it cracks when you try to put the plaster in. If you're using muffin tins, I suggest doing only one or two at a time, because otherwise the plaster might dry too fast, before you're able to push all the bottle covers in, and you'll end up with a bunch of cracked candle holders.

6. After 15-20 minutes of drying, remove the bottle cover by slowly twisting it to release it from the plaster. Be very careful or you might break the plaster at this stage. (Ask me how I know...)

7. Let the plaster dry the rest of the way, over a couple of hours. Then remove from the mold.

8. Decorate! Paint, glue and glitter, etc...

Enjoy!

Are you a candle person? How often, if ever, do you light candles, and when you do, what type do you generally light- tea lights? Tapers? Another kind?

Ever made your own plaster mold? What kind of mold did you make?

Does this look like a project you'd try?