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!