How to Make Existing Candles Grubby

Turn your old candles into primitive looking home accessories.

Age, texture, aroma and a grubby appearance are the key elements for a primitive-style decor. Make existing items like candles look grubby (or new items made to look old) to create this unique style. Grub up your candles with this inexpensive and quick project that uses a common food spice. The finished product is a mottled, rusty-looking decorative candle.

Things You'll Need

• Large tile
• Two pencils
• Ruler
• Masking tape
• Old pillar, taper or votive candles
• Embossing heat gun
• Ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Lay a heat resistant tile on your work surface. The tile has to be as big or bigger than the candle you're working on. Center two pencils on the tile, parallel to each other. Place them 2 inches apart for a pillar candle and 1 inch apart for a taper or votive candle. Tape the pencils to the tile with the masking tape. The pencils are the braces to keep your candle from rolling away.

2. Center the length of your candle over the length of the pencil braces. The candle does not need to fit perfectly between the braces. It only needs to be secured from rolling.

3. Hold an embossing heat gun 4 inches away from the surface of the candle that is facing up. Sweep the gun from one end of the candle to the other for 10 seconds. The wax on the candle will become shiny as it melts.

4. Sprinkle ground cinnamon over the wet wax. Allow the wax to harden. The surface will have a mottled, grubby appearance.

5. Turn the candle. Heat and apply cinnamon all the way around the candle.

6. Heat and apply two more coats of cinnamon around the candle. The heated wax will seep through the cinnamon making it wet for each new coat.

7. Stand the candles upright on the tile. If the candle is a taper candle, place it in a candlestick holder. Heat and apply cinnamon in the same way as the sides. Wax dripping down the sides adds to the grubby appearance.

8. Heat the entire surface once more to seal the last application of cinnamon.

Tips & Warnings

• A trivet with a solid surface or wood cutting board can be substituted for the tile.

• Grubbed off-white, tan, brown and burgundy candles blend well with the cinnamon application, although any wax color may be used.

• If a heat gun is not available, use a hot hair dryer. Hold the dryer over the candle a bit longer than the heat gun. Clean up your cinnamon after each sprinkle application to prevent it from blowing away.

• These grubby candles are meant for decorative purposes. If you want to burn them, center the candle on a non-flammable candle dish, keep them out of drafts.

• Never leave a lit candle unattended.