Seascape gel candle craft project.

Arts and Crafts Projects - Seascape Gel Candles

This beautiful seascape gel candle project was Kindly Contributed by Designer: Karen Goodale of Heaven Scent. For more candles like this, click here to visit Karen's design gallery.

Supplies needed for your seascape gel candle:

-Roly-Poly votive cup (or other glassware)
-Wick in high collar wick tab, appropriate for glass size
-Hot glue gun (optional, but helpful)
-Clean sand
-Assorted seashells or *nonflammable embeds
-Glass fish or other sea creatures (optional)
-Gel Wax (I use Medium Density)
-Liquid candle dye (optional)
-Scent (optional)
*If using scent it MUST have a flashpoint of at least 170 degrees. See bottom of page for gel basics and safety information.

1) Hot glue * the wick tab into the center of a glass roly poly votive cup (or your choice of glassware) using the appropriate wick size for your container.

* Alternative method: dip wick tab into hot gel and place in center of glass. The gel will cool and hold the tab in place.

2) Add a layer of clean sand * to cover the bottom of the glass, and the wick tab. Add shells or other nonflammable decorations to top of the sand.

*Alternative: Table salt can also be used, BUT it must be regular salt with no additives. Some salts contain a "sugar" type substance that can be flammable. Salt can also tend to dissolve a bit in the gel and create a "wet sand" look.

3) Heat gel until completely melted, and like thick syrup. Add color and scent (if desired) and stir very well to mix color and scent throughout the gel.

Note: be very careful when adding color to the gel, a little bit goes a long way! Start out with less than a drop of dye on a toothpick, you only want a "tint" of color so that your scene will show.

Pour a layer of gel into the bottom of the glass, covering the sand and shells -- filling as high as you want the bottom of your fish to "float". (Other ways to suspend fish are listed below in helpful hints.) This gel layer will "seal" the sand and shells. Watch for any air bubbles that rise to the surface from the sand and shells and pop the bubbles with a tooth pick. Make sure that the wick stays centered in the glass. Cool completely. I then place remaining gel (in Pyrex measuring cup in the oven at 250 degrees to keep hot for next the layer).

Helpful hints:

* Drill a hole through the center of a popsicle stick and feed the wick through the hole. Set across the top of the glass to keep wick centered. Pull up gently as the gel cool to also keep the wick straight.

* Glass fish or other glass sea creatures can be hot glued to a shell to make them appear "suspended" in the gel, IF the shells are large enough to hold them up without tipping the shell over.

* Some glass fish are made with a hole in the top fin (these a normally used with a glass ball to float in aquariums) if using this type of fish you can feed a fishing line through the hole as if you were wearing it as a necklace. Tie the ends in a knot at the proper length to feed a pencil or skewer through, and lay across the top of the glass to hold the fish at the level you want him to swim. Once the gel has completely cooled, just snip the fishing line and gently pull it out of the gel.

4) Add fish to the cooled gel as close to the inside of the glass as possible, pushing into the cooled gel to hold fish in place. Take remaining gel out of the oven (if you kept it hot) or reheat to a thick syrup if it was left out to cool.

5) Pour remaining gel to almost the top of the glass. While pouring, hold your pouring pot down as low as possible. Pouring from too high causes extra bubbles in the gel. Make sure that the wick stays centered and straight as the gel cools. Gently pull up on the wick several times as is cools to keep wick taut.

Helpful hints:

*Should your fish or other suspended item sink lower than you wanted it, you can dig the fish out and place on the top of the gel and reheat in 200-225 degree oven until it moves down where you want it, remove from oven and cool.

*If you have more bubbles than you want, or have pour lines where the second layer of gel meets the first layer you can place in a 200 degree oven to remove extra bubbles, or set out in the sun for several hours. Pour lines next to the glass are also easy to melt away by using a heat gun.

6) Your new seascape is now finished, and you don't even need to feed the fish! Keep the wick straight and trimmed to 1/8 to 1/4 inch for hours of enjoyment!

*Other Ideas to Try*

Create a variety of other scenes with gel using a "wicked glass insert" to protect your embedded items from the wick flame. A large ivy bowl (available at most craft stores) works well for the outside glass, with a 5 oz. Kraft cheese jar or Libbey 5 oz. juice glass inserted inside for the wicked part of the candle.

The butterfly and flower embeds are plastic and were purchased from a cake decorating supply house.

Using the glass insert method allows you embed most anything safely into the outer gel, plus has the advantage of not "burning" your scene away as the gel melts. When the gel burns down in the center cup it can either be refilled with gel, or just add a votive or tealight candle to the cup to enjoy the outer scene over and over!

For more candle projects like this, click here to visit Karen's design gallery.

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