DIY Day at Bow Seat: How to Make Seashell Tea Lights
February 5, 2015Here at FTBS, we like to take “Crafting Days” where we do something creative to keep the artistic spirit of the ocean alive in our work. Beautiful and functional, these little lights are just the thing to help you out if you get caught in a blizzard.
HOW TO MAKE SHELL TEA LIGHTS
1. Gather your shells – the deeper the “bowl” of the shell, the longer your light will last. Wash any dirt off, and dry them.
2. (Optional) You can spray the outside of the shell with acrylic spray to enhance the color of the shell, and make it look like it’s wet. We tried spraying one shell and decided we liked the matte, natural look better, but you do you.
3. Melt your wax – we used soy wax flakes but use whatever wax you want. You can even melt the scraps from any other candles you have lying around. Melt slowly on low heat in a stainless steel pot (they are easier to clean than Teflon…just wipe out with a paper towel while the wax is still melted). Once it’s melted, you can add essential oils for fragrance and special dyes for color. We left ours simple and unscented.
4. Pour wax gently into the shells. We had to prop up our shells with pieces of paper towel to make sure they didn’t tilt when we poured.
5. Insert wick. A lot of candle tutorials tell you to add the wick first, but because these tea lights are so small it doesn’t really matter. We found that inserting it after we poured helped it stand up straighter and stay in place. Leave about a 1/4 inch wick on top.
6. Let cool. Wait until the wax sets, plus a few hours. We waited a whole day just in case.
7. Light it up and enjoy!!! The smaller-shell-candles last only a few minutes, but the bigger ones can stay lit for hours!
Share with us if you’ve done any sea-related crafts lately, and we might try it out and feature you and your craft on our media. Stay safe and well-lit!