Cooler nights, shorter days, Halloween is on it's way!
Here is a list of items you will need to create this project
1. Plastic Gargoyle lawn fencing.
2 Paper towel roll.
3. Black, flat, latex paint or craft paint.
4. Wax paper.
5. Glue gun and glue sticks.
6. Tea lights, you need two lights for each candle you make.
7. Scissors.
8. X-Acto knife.
9. Masking tape, although, in this project, I used black electrical tape. Either are ok.
10. One piece of white printer paper
That's it, so lets get started!
Picture below is what the plastic fencing looks like. I found mine at the Dollar Tree Store.
What I did - I disassembled the fencing by cutting the Gargoyle's out with a pair of scissors and removed the plastic from the eyes with an X-acto knife.
Now that the gargoyle is craved out I lightly sanded it creating a surface that paint can adhere to. I did not end up painting the ones I used here, as I liked how the sanding looked, you can get as creative with them as you please.
Important
Before using the glue gun, I highly recommend that you set up a bowl of cold water somewhere close by, in the case that the very hot glue, accidentally drips on you. Trust me on this one! Take the time to protect yourself. The quicker you get that hot glue into cold water the quicker you cool the very hot glue.
Now take your paper towel roll and hold the Gargoyle up to it and mark where you want the eyes to be, you will have to cut a hole into the paper towel roll so that the light can come through.
Now cut a hole in it.
Now you will take the white piece of printer paper, it could be any kind of paper, I just grabbed a piece of printer paper because it is bright white. It works to create a bright glow from the tea light that goes into the paper towel roll.
This is what it should look like. White inside
Next take your tape, you can use any tape, I normally use masking tape but I grabbed this black electric tape, simply, because I saw it first. Take the tape and create a seat for the tea light by placing the tape against the bottom of the candle with the sticky side down away from the candle. Insert the sticky side along with the tea light and push it down into the paper roll. The candle shape will press the tape to the sides. It takes about 5 or 6 pieces of tape to complete the seat.
This is what it should look like now.
Once that is done, you can paint the tube black.
Once that is dry, take a sheet of wax paper and place the paper towel roll on the sheet. You now need to stabilize your paper towel roll so that it can support the weight of the Gargoyle and to keep it from tipping over. To do this you need to puddle the hot glue around the bottom of the paper towel roll, like this.
Let that cool completely, that way the glue stays flat so that the candle stands straight. Once that part is complete you can poke a hole into the bottom of the paper towel roll where the wax paper is. This will be helpful when you are gluing the Gargoyle on.
Time to glue on the Gargoyle! Please make sure you use every precaution with the glue gun. Have your water next to you this part can get tricky. Take the Gargoyle and hold it up to the hole you cut into the paper towel roll makeing sure the eyes line up so that you will know where to apply your glue. Please be very careful with this part, the plastic gargoyle can heat up and get quite hot. Also take precaution due to how hot your glue gun is that the gargoyle could actually melt. Mine got hot but no where near melting. To aid me while pressing the Gargoyle to the paper towel roll, I enlisted the help of a paint stick and used it by inserting it thought the bottom of the paper towel roll to hold the inside of the paper towel roll while I pressed the gargoyle to the roll. That's the reason I poked a hole into the wax paper. Hold the Gargoyle and paper towel roll until it cools completely. This is important. Once it cools check to make sure it is securely glued if it is loose add more glue and hold it again until it is completely cool. Since the gargoyle is flat it may not be flush with the paper towel roll so turn it over and check. Use the tape and seal the spaces around the back of the eyes making sure there isn't any light that can get through. This will prevent that light from diluting the glow from the tea light inside. It should look like this.
Once you have it taped you can put glue around the tape to make sure it stays, this will also help to secure and stabilize the Gargoyle as well. My electrical tape wasn't sticking very well so gluing over and around it really helped. If you are using masking tape, not to worry if the color of the tape is showing because you will be painting the paper towel roll again once you are done making the wax drips with the glue so the color of the tape will get covered up and not show.
This is what it should look like now
Once done with that part you should be able to stand your candle up, it should be strong and sturdy, not easy to tip and the Gargoyle sure not be loose at all. You can now stick a tea light into the bottom to see what it will look like when lit. Like I did in the above picture.
Now you can start to design the faux wax drips onto the paper towel roll parts that still show. You can do a lot or just a few around the top, it is all up to you. I did a lot and I used several glue sticks to do so.
Run some glue around the top of the candle being careful not to let any get inside the seat where the candle goes, if it does the candle won't fit. Once that is done you just need to repaint the paper towel roll making sure you get all the hot glue drips and tape behind the gargoyle. You can paint the candle and or the gargoyle to your liking what ever colors you choose.
Don't forget to paint the bottom, it gives it a finished look and feel.
I haven't painted my Gargoyles yet as I really liked the look the sanding gave them, however, that's not to say that I won't. For now I am still playing with them.
So I hope you enjoyed this paper towel roll candle How-to and if you decide to make some of your own that you share with myself and my readers! Thank you so much and I hope you find something here that will inspire you to create something spooky!
