So, you may remember from the post about envisioning my potential centerpieces (in case you don’t, you can read it here) I was planning on taking bubble votive holders and applying gold tissue paper to them for my table numbers. Well, that turned out looking like poo (totally not even worth showing you). I don’t know if I wasn’t tearing the paper up into small enough pieces, or if it just wasn’t a good idea to try and use metallic tissue paper, all I know is it looked like crap. So, on to Plan B, painting the candle holders.
I had messed around with different brush stroke techniques last weekend (which is why in a second you’ll notice 3 of the candle holders are already painted when the rest are not) and decided the look I liked best was a mixture of “swirling” on the paint and then “dabbling” the paint over that (these are very technical artistic terms, as you can tell, hahaha). So yesterday, I got to work:
Those are all the candle holders I could get my hands on. They’re from the Dollar Tree. They were exactly $1 each (as is everything else in the Dollar Tree). I actually went to two different Dollar Trees and cleaned them out of these suckers, and I still didn’t have quite enough. My plan is to go to another Dollar Tree sometime this week and make the last ones on Friday since I don’t have to work.
For this project, I got paintbrushes that are specifically made to paint glass. I don’t know what makes them so special, but they do “dabble” very well! And the gold paint I got (from Michaels) is technically “for home decorating” (or so it says) but a) it isn’t flammable (not that I’ll be painting the inside of the candle holders, but you can never be too safe) and b) has a great gold color!
Personal Photo
I quickly realized the best way to hold the little bubbles is to just stick it on my left hand, like so:
And then I got to swirling on the paint:
And I kept going until I had the first coat done on all of the candle holders:
As well as a significant amount of paint on my hand (luckily it came off quite easily):
And then I went back over all of them and “dabbled” the paint on. I’m a horrible DIY blogger and forgot to take a picture of the process, but I will on Friday when I’m making the next batch so I can show you what I mean by dabbling.
After I was done “dabbling,” I went and put a candle in each of them, lit it, and then touched up the paint job. This was probably completely unnecessary, but I’m kind of a perfectionist, and they really look completely different all lit up!
And I did this with all of them until I was satisfied with how they looked:
Now it was time to paint on the numbers. For this, I was using a sparkly red paint and a very fine paintbrush (I free handed this):
Personal Photo
The paint really is lovely, but since it is only glitter mixed with an adhesive of sorts, it didn’t turn out as solid as I would have liked. See, the light shines through the number quite a bit:
So I plan on going back over all the numbers with a plain red paint (I can use the stuff I used on my DIY Aisle Runner) and then over it once again with the sparkle paint, because I want them to be sparkly! Again, I plan on doing this on Friday.
But since I finally had, like 90% of what my centerpieces will consist of, I decided to do a little mockup:
Okay, so for the wedding I’ll be using real flowers, not fake ones. And the vases will have beads of some sort in the bottom. The orchid and the calla will be submerged with a floating candle on top, and although I plan on having a white circle beneath the vases, it won’t be that white circle. That is actually the bottom of a cake carrier that I used just to give the general idea. And there won’t actually be purple paper underneath the whole thing; that’s my pretend table cloth!
And I have to say, I am incredibly happy with them! I’m totally ready for September to be here already!!!
Oh, since this post was primarily about the table numbers, here are a few more pictures of them:
Happy Monday, Weddzilla readers!
I love these! You did a fabulous job, as always! My only thought is, will they be a little low for the guests to see when trying to find the right table? Will there also be a higher table number or card that stands up? Then again, if the number is dark enough, I think it will stand out!
I hadn’t thought of that!!! Once I make the number more noticeable I’ll see if that’s enough, but maybe I will have to do a higher number as well! Thanks for pointing that out!
OMG SO GORGEOUS MANDA!!! You did a fantabulouses job!!!
Thank you so much! I’m so happy with how they turned out; they look so romantic when they’re lit up!
These look great, good job!! After the wedding you should consider selling crafts and other sorts for home decor.
Thanks! Haha, I already do sell stuff (on top of working full time and planning my wedding). I’m hoping to have more time to put towards it after the wedding though!
Gorgeous!! Loving them– you did such a great job!
Thanks! Candle holders like these would probably work really well with your “fairy tale” theme! Not even as table numbers, just as candle holders! And they were super easy to make!
fantastic job!! they look great!
You are seriously the crafting queen! *bows to you* Those turned out really nice! I agree with the first noter though about them being high enough at the start. Will the venue have everything lit and the lights dim when everyone comes in? I think making the numbers darker will help though. ^_^
Nicely done! Just curious so I can advise my clients who might want to make these, how much time would you estimate,per candle holder,that it takes to create this look?
I wasn’t paying attention to how long they took, but it was a fairly quick project. I’ll keep an eye on the clock when I make the rest of the Friday and then get back to you!
Oh! Didn’t I tell you that the Dollar Tree was awesome! Hope you got there at a prime time and didn’t have to deal with our local craziness. lol
Posted on my blog and linked to you for directions http://diyweddingplanning.blogspot.com/2011/04/dollar-store-michaels-diy-glowing-table.html
Thanks so much! I feel honored you thought my DIYing was worthy of being linked to from your blog!