How to Make a Hanging Candle Jar

Contents

    – Make a candle holder from a glass yogourt pot

    – Make a hanging candle jar from a tin can

What could be more magical than myriad candle holders hanging in trees or around the house to brighten up summer nights or warm-up cold December evenings? Since you’ll need many of them, you can make them from recycled materials.

This how-to guide explains how to make a hanging candle jar by recycling your glass yogourt cups and tin cans and adding a metal handle. You can also remove the handle and make candle holders put on a piece of furniture or even on the ground to draw a lighted path in the night.

These candle holders are illuminated with tea lights and bought in large quantities because they do not last long.

Materials needed to make hanging candle holders.

Flathead nails 

Wire 

Hammer 

Universal pliers 

Make a hanging candle jar from a glass yogourt pot

To make a basic candle jar, you will need:

    – a glass yogourt pot;

    – wire;

    – a pair of pliers.

Next:

    – Take a glass yogourt pot that matches the shape shown here: the important thing is that a slightly wider part follows a slightly constricted part at the top.

    – Cut a piece of wire with pliers.

    – With this wire, wrap a tight ring around the top of the pot, at the level of its slightly narrowed part. Close the ring by twisting the two ends of the wire together.

    – Cut another piece of wire to make a handle (any length), which you will attach securely to the ring.

Note: it is often more practical to decorate the candle holder first (except for model n° 1) and then put the ring and the handle.

Candle holder n°1: natural candle holder

    – Leave the glass transparent.

    – Attach a crown of small red berries picked in nature or small pine cones tied with raffia to the neck.

Candle jar n° 2: candle jar painted with stained glass paint

Stained glass paint is a paint that stays translucent, colouring your candle holders to give them a festive look and letting an excellent light filter through.

Additional materials: brush, stained glass paint

    – Paint the entire candle jar a single colour and make a series of different coloured candle jars.

    – You can also paint the candle jar with different colours and patterns to your liking.

Candle jar #3: striped candle jar

Additional materials: adhesive, jam jar, brush, paint

    – Place strips of adhesive horizontally on a jam jar, leaving a wide gap between 2 strips.

    – Paint the transparent parts of the jar with matte acrylic paint (white is charming) or stained glass paint (red if Christmas is coming). You can safely spill over the adhesive.

    – Let dry completely, remove the tape.

Candle holder #4: openwork candle holder

Additional materials: venilia, acrylic paint, brush

    – Cut out a pattern of your choice (star, tree, heart…) from a piece of adhesive Venilia, regardless of its colour.

    – Glue the pattern on the yogourt pot.

    – Paint the pot with acrylic paint or spray it with gold paint or artificial snow.

    – Let it dry completely, remove the Venilia: the transparent patterns will let the light through.

Candle holder #5: lace candle holder

Additional material: adhesive lace tape

    – Glue parallel strips of lace tape (available in colours, some with Christmas motifs) all around the pot.

    – Leave a gap between the two strips.

That’s it! All of these simple projects can be done by children.

Make a hanging candle jar from a tin can

To make a candle jar from a can, you will need:

    – a tin can;

    – a large flat head nail and a hammer;

    – wire.

Equipped with this:

    – Rinse an empty can. Carefully remove all traces of wrapping paper from the outside.

    – Wedge the can firmly to prevent any mishap.

    – Place a sharp nail at the top of the can, near the edge.

    – With a hammer, tap the nail until a hole is made.

    – Make a second hole diametrically opposite the first, at the top of the box.

    – Cut a small length of wire.

    – Use the two holes to hang a handle closed at the ends by a loop of wire folded over itself.

Suggestion #1: Perforated candle jar with no real pattern

    – Make a lot of holes, scattered randomly all over the box.

    – If you want to get bigger holes, replace the screw with a punch: tap the punch handle with the hammer until you get the desired hole width.

Note: some cans are too soft and may bend when you tap to drive the screw or punch. If this happens, fill the can with water and freeze it. Then punch the can filled with frozen water.

Suggestion #2: Perforated candle holder in a pattern

    – With a felt-tip pen, draw dots on the box to form the pattern of your choice: star, tree, letter of the alphabet, number (for a birthday), etc.

    – Punch the box according to the dots drawn with the felt pen.

Note: You can paint the cans with matte acrylic paint for more refinement, but raw candle holders also look great.