How to Make Clay Tealight Holders

Take out your bag of clay and cut off approx. 1/3 of the clay. Place onto your protective mat and roll out the clay using a rolling pin until it is evenly spread out and the thickness of the clay is roughly 0.5 cm. Cut off an excess that you think you don't need.

Using a ruler and one of your clay modelling tools (one that is quite thin and sharp on the end) cut the clay into a long rectanglar piece with the height being approx. 5 cm and the length being approx. 19cm. Cut one side to an angle so that one of the lengths remains as 19 cm and the other becomes 17 cm.

To create the shape of your candle votive, use a cardboard tube.
Before you begin wrapping the clay around the tube, cut down one side of it. It is important to do this as it will help you to remove the tube once you have created the shape for your candle votive.

Your clay may slump a little when you remove the tube but don't worry! It can easily be picked up and adjusted while the clay is still malleable.

Using a paintbrush and some water, you can also smooth out the surface or any rough edges on your candle votive.

After an hour or so, the clay will begin to harden but it will still be soft enough for you to cut into. Using a scalpel, you can create a carved texture onto the surface and edges of your candle votive.

If children are making these, I do advise that adults do this part for them! Please do take care when doing this step.

And now for the best part… Painting!

Using golds, whites and pastel colours is so on trend at the moment. Using these colours will make these candle votives look so stylish and give them a contemporary look.

Once the paint has completely dried, use some Mod Podge glue (gloss) on the outside of the candle votive. This glue is great because although it is a glue, it is also a sealant so it will seal the paint in place, protect it and even give it a glossy finish.

All that is left to do now is pop a tea light into the bottom of your candle votives!
And what is so great about these candle votives is that they are bottomless! So if the wax melts and runs, you can just pop the tea light out of the bottom and put in a new one.