DIY Pressed Flower Candles
Add natural charm to your home with these DIY pressed flower candles. These dried flower candles are SO PRETTY, and they’re really fun and relaxing to make!
Gather a selection of pressed flowers in your favourite colours and “paint” them onto the side of a pillar candle using wax. This craft is great as a group activity, and the decorative candles make an awesome homemade gift for Mother’s Day, birthdays, housewarmings, or any other special occasion!
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How to Make Pressed Flower Candles
Materials:
Equipment:
Check Out The Video Tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
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Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Arrange the pressed flowers
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Light a tealight candle and let it start to melt, creating a pool of liquid wax. This wax will be the “glue” that holds the pressed flowers on the candle.
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While your tealight is burning, set out your pressed flowers and begin to arrange them into a pattern you like.Try to use a combination of colours, flower types and sizes, and greenery.
Step 3: Add the first flower to your candle
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Use tweezers to grab a pressed flower and set it on the side of the pillar candle, near the bottom. Then hold the flower in place with your thumb.
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Dip the silicone paintbrush (read more about them below this tutorial!) in the liquid wax of the tealight, being careful to not put the brush in the flame.
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Immediately bring your brush over to the flower and spread wax on top of it, connecting it to the pillar candle.
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Add more wax over top of the flower until it’s flat against the candle, staying in place on its own.Use swift brush strokes with gentle pressure. If you push too hard the flower will break apart, and if you go too slowly, the wax will harden on the brush.
Step 4: Continue adding dried flowers
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Place a second flower on the candle, next to the first. Try not to add thick layers of wax — just enough to make the flower stick.Use different heights and sizes of flowers.
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Continue adding flowers and greenery, working your way around the candle.As you add more flowers you’ll have to periodically peel the wax off of the silicone brush.
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Add more flowers around the pillar candle until you get back to the beginning.
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Take a look at your candle and add extra flowers into any gaps, or add different layers of flowers to create varied height across the candle.
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Your pressed flower candle is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- Choose a colour scheme for your pressed flower candle before making it. It helps to know what flowers you have and to arrange them ahead of time.
- Make sure your tealight wax matches the colour of your pillar candle. White wax might show up too much on a cream coloured candle.
Where can I get pressed flowers to decorate a candle?
You can buy a large selection of beautiful pressed flowers on Amazon and Etsy.
But if you’re not in a hurry you can also press flowers yourself! This is a great way to use blooms from your garden or to preserve memories from a special bouquet. It takes a bit of time, but it’s really easy to press your own flowers.
Can I burn these pressed flower candles?
We consider these pressed flower candles to be more decorative than something you burn. But you should be able to burn them safely if you take a few precautions, since the pressed flowers are on the outside of the candle, not near the flame.
Pillar candles are generally designed to tunnel inside, creating their own vessel to hold the melting wax. But you should place your candle on a plate or dish just in case, to catch any debris from the candle or the flowers.
Different brands and qualities of candles will burn differently, so keep an eye on your candle and never leave a flame unattended. Depending on how the candle burns, you may want to use tweezers to remove the pressed flowers once the side of the candle reaches them.
Do I have to use a silicone paintbrush to make pressed flower candles?
We highly recommended using one of these silicone paintbrushes!! It made this craft really easy and enjoyable, instead of struggling with a regular paintbrush.
We first tried using a regular paintbrush from the dollar store, and while it does work, candle wax builds up after only a couple flowers. The wax gets stuck in the bristles and won’t come off (which makes the process frustrating!). With the silicone brushes you can easily peel the wax buildup right off the silicone.
We bought our brushes at the dollar store, but you can also find an inexpensive silicone paintbrush set on Amazon. They’re definitely worth the purchase for this craft!
Do I have to use a lit candle to make pressed flower candles?
We enjoyed the process of dipping our brush into the wax and using it as a glue for the flowers, but you can also make pressed flower candles in a few different ways.
#1 – Heat gun:
Use a heat gun to partially melt the side of a candle and press the flowers onto it. Press the flowers down with a paintbrush to adhere them to the side of the candle.
This method works well, though it can create an uneven surface on the candle from repeatedly melting it. You also have to be careful to not hold the heat gun too close to the flowers, or else they may turn brown.
#2 – Hot spoon or knife:
Place your flower on the side of the candle. Hold a metal spoon or knife over a flame and then press it onto the flower to melt the wax underneath. Do this repeatedly until the flower is stuck on.
This process works well for thin flowers, but doesn’t work as nicely for thicker ones with layers of petals. Plus your silverware can get charred if you put it in the flame accidentally.
#3 – Wax paper:
Arrange flowers on wax paper and then wrap the paper around the candle. Aim a blow dryer or heat gun at the wrapped flowers to transfer them from the paper to the side of the candle.
We found it too difficult to wrap the paper around without the flowers shifting position. But perhaps if you melt the wax paper a bit more before sticking the flowers down, they might wrap around more easily.
Create stunning pressed flower candles made with spring and summer blooms and enjoy displaying them year-round. These decorative floral candles are such a fun pressed flower craft, and they’re a great way to add a pop of colour to any room!
Here’s even more pressed flower craft ideas:
Pressed Flower Lanterns
Pressed Flower Bookmark
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
