Craft Tutorial: Miniature Dollhouse Candlesticks and Taper Candles

Making dollhouse miniatures is a fun and challenging craft discipline.  It requires you to look at materials in new ways and to constantly be innovative.  Once you start looking at the world through the eyes of a dollhouse miniature maker, you start to see itty-bitty things in all kinds of everyday objects.  Quite often the most common of craft supplies (things you probably already have laying around) become the parts for uncommonly tiny things.  These little "crystal" candlesticks and taper candles are  one of those projects.

You will need:

• Glass beads in various sizes
• Bamboo skewers
• String
• Sandpaper (or emery board)
• Craft paint
• Glue

Directions:

Find three glass beads in the same or similar colors and varying sizes.  The bead that will go on top  should have a hole that is large enough to pass a bamboo skewer through it, but not much larger than the diameter of the skewer.

Stack the beads on top of each other and secure them together with a couple tiny dabs of glue.  Make sure you use a glue that is rated for use on glass and dries clear, such as E600 adhesive.  You will probably find it easiest  to glue the bottom two beads first and let them dry completely, then glue the third bead on top.  Make sure the beads line up straight so that your finished candle holders and candles aren't crooked.

To make a taper candle, cut about an inch off the pointed end of a bamboo skewer.  (Bamboo skewers come in varying diameters, so make sure you use ones that are appropriate to the scale of your candlesticks.)

Cut the pointed tip off of the skewer, leaving just a little bit of taper at the end.  Use sandpaper or an emery board to smooth out the cut ends of the skewer.

Paint the skewer in the color  you want your candles to be.  Acrylic craft paint works well for this.

Now for the tricky part!  Glue a piece of string (the example shown here uses white crochet thread) to the tapered tip of the skewer.  Start with a few inches of string; working with a larger piece and cutting it down later is much easier than using a tiny piece of string.  Apply a tiny dab of glue to the end of the skewer as well as the end of the string.  Use tweezers to carefully touch the glued surfaces together.  If neccessary, use the tweezers to hold the string in place until the glue begins to set.

When the glue is completely dry, trim down the string to make a tiny candle wick.  To put the candles in the candlesticks, put a dab of glue inside the top bead of each candlestick and press the candle into place.  Make sure the candles are standing up straight in the holders.  You may need to hold them in place until the glue begins to set to ensure they don't tilt.

Now you're ready for a dollhouse candle light dinner, or to decorate a tiny fireplace mantel!

For more dollhouse miniatures tutorials, click here.