Saturday, September 30, 2017

Quick Craft: Fairy Skeleton Candle

Confession: I have somewhat mixed feelings about Halloween. On the one hand, I can't stand gore or jump scares, but on the other, it's the one time of the year when the rest of the world gets to play dress up with us cosplay nerds. AW YEAH. 

So when it comes to decorating for Halloween, well, I really don't. BUT! I love - LOVE - crafting for it. I find the key is I don't like anything real life scary or dark, but fantasy stuff? HECK YES SIGN ME UP. It's the difference between movies about serial killers and movies about dementors: as long as I'm planted firmly in fiction, I can enjoy a much higher creep factor. 

Which brings me to today's quick craft. I started thinking I'd make some cute fairy skeletons like these ones by Hilda that are all over Pinterest:


I couldn't find the butterfly wings at my dollar store, though, so instead I came home with these dragonfly wings:


I also grabbed a plain white candle in a jar - that thing on top. These are all from my local Dollar Tree.

With those $3 worth of supplies - plus some hot glue and a little craft paint - I made this:

Creepy fairy skeleton candle!

And since that obviously needed a good display area, I also set up a mostly Harry Potter themed vignette for it:


I'm sure you can spot the one item glaringly NOT from the Potter 'verse, ha. Turns out I'm sorely lacking in the "creepy potion bottle" department.

Again, this is undeniably macabre, but since all I see is magic and fantasy I'm cool with it. Plus I like displaying things John and I have made, and there are 5 different craft projects just in this photo. (Though I've never done a tutorial for the leather book covers. Maybe someday?)

Getting back to the candle, there are actually two fairy skeletons tied back-to-back around it:

Obviously you could use just one skeleton, but this way makes the attachment easier.

This is almost a no-brainer craft, but let me walk you through it real quick anyway:
 
First, cut off the plastic loops on the skeleton heads:

 Save the twine they're strung together with.

Pull out the dragonfly wings (ouch) and hot glue them to the backs of the skeletons:


To age your shiny new candle jar, first give it a rough sanding (any grit sandpaper will do), then slop some watered down craft paint on it:

Pat that off with a paper towel, and repeat 'til it's grungy enough for your liking.

Side Note: I learned that trick from TheKimSix, whose distressed bottle tutorial is a GOLDMINE:

Go check out her post for a much more in-depth tutorial. I really want to do this with more bottles now! And maybe try some color?


Once your glass is dry, use that twine/rope to tie the two skeletons' hands together around it:

You can also secure their feet with a little hot glue, but I find the skeleton arms are tight enough to hold the fairies in place just fine as is, even when handled.

For a finishing touch I dunked a scrap of lace in some paint and tied it around the top of the candle. You can use any scrap of ribbon for this, or even more of the twine they came with:

Now all that's left to do is light your candle and let out a hearty, menacing cackle. Your cats and/or significant other will love it, promise.

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Looking for more crafts, Halloween, Harry Potter, or "Other"? Then check out my Craft Page! I have over 150 projects just waiting to distract you from that thing you're supposed to be doing.

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And finally, let's announce this month's art winners!

The winner of the Wookie-the-Chew set is Casey Bahr
The winner of the Wall-E print is Ed Peck
And my wild card winner is Paisley Gray!

Congrats, you three, and please e-mail me your mailing addresses!

27 comments:

  1. Awesome! I think it looks even better actually with those dragonfly wings as opposed to the butterfly ones - more skeletal.

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  2. Looks like the skeletons of the Cornish Pixies. Love it!

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  3. I like the dragonfly wings better!

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  4. Jen, did you make that gorgeous trifold display stand too? If not, where can I find something similar? Thanks!

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    1. This! I was going to ask about that, too!

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    2. Sadly no, that's a Christmas display I keep out year-round! I found it at a craft store in the home decor section a few years ago, haven't spotted another like it since. :(

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  5. Love the whole vignette - wow, I had totally forgotten that they used the Lewis Chessmen (in the lower left) the HP movies!
    ~Lori

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  6. Maybe that Fantasy-vs-Creepy attitude is why I always like your Halloween crafts so much more than most of them out there...

    These are cool!

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    1. Thank you! I do try to give everything a more "old and elegant" vibe.

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  7. I like them with the dragonfly wings and the butterfly. Kinda makes me want to do a whole undead fairy display complete with creepy fairy houses....

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  8. Oh, you crafty people, have you seen those USB lights that are shaped light wine bottle corks? I saw some at Bed Bath and Beyond, and an online search turned up several web sites. I bet you and John could make all kinds of sweet lamps, and since they are rechargeable, no pesky batteries to run out of juice at inconvenient times.

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  9. Ok, now I want to get all crafty. I saw some gorgeous keys at Michael's and now I want to glue dragonfly wings to them to make the flying wings from HP. You're inspirational Jen!

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  10. Is there a tutorial for the pensive looking mirror? I'm in love with it!!

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    1. Sady, no - that one's a store-bought Christmas piece that I keep out year-round. So gorgeous, right?

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  11. Aww shucks, even you guys got me a birthday present! ❤️ Thanks so much!!!

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  12. You made the leather book cover? It’s gorgeous! I would love love love to see a tutorial for it if you ever get the chance! There’s a whole list of fictional books I’ve been dying to make for a shelf in my library (like A History of Magic, The Red Book of Westmarch, etc.) but I can’t figure out how to make them look believable.

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    1. I've been meaning to revisit that one for ages, since the actual leather part is *fairly* quick & easy. It's just all that gilding detail that takes forever. Anyway, I'll bump it up the list!

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  13. Very nice. :) I have no tolerance for gore or jump scares either. So I've gravitated toward the Gothic side: haunted houses, mist-shrouded graveyards, classic monsters, ghosts, skeletons/skulls and ravens. I try to keep the spookiness around WDW Haunted Mansion levels. Then it's fun without the frights and grossness.

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  14. Jen, I can kind of relate. I'm fine with anything for Halloween, but I don't like violence in my regular movies or t.v. shows. But, for some reason, I'm okay with it in horror movies. (Classic ones, like Halloween and Friday the 13th, not the new horror porn movies, like the Saw franchise!)

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  15. I love the leather book cover! Is it actually covering a book? Either way it looks amazing.

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  16. I have that Haunted Mansion bottle stopper!

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  17. Hi Jen! I absolutely love your fairies better than the original. I have always contended that dragonfly wings make better fairies than butterfly wings.

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  18. This craft isn't as quick, but it's pretty straightforward if you want a slightly creepier dead fairy: http://www.shadowmanor.com/blog/?page_id=4666

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  19. I just started making a set of four of these (because the skeletons are in a four-pack and the butterfly wings come in pairs) and I thought, you know that method you used for making the Balrog POP's eyes glow? I wonder if you could use a dremel tool and a set of LED string lights to make a whole lighted string of these with the light inside the skulls.

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