03 August 2009

How to complete the arum lily candle.

What you should have:
  • The Lily petal
  • The Lily stalk
  • The Lily stamen

Firstly heat up a pot of wax to about 80 degrees celcius, make sure that your pot is big enough for the lily petal to be dipped in. Once your wax is ready take the lily petal and just dip it into the wax almost as if you are dipping a biscuit into coffee.

Do not hold the petal in the wax, just dip it and take it out again. Repeat this process for the top and bottom of the lily petal so that the melted wax can heat up the entire petal untill it is soft and pliable. This usually takes about 5 dips on each side of the petal.

Now that your petal is soft, warm and pliable take the petal and place it into your left hand, then take the stamen and place it in the middle of the petal and slowly wrap the bottom left of the petal over the bottom of the stamen, make sure that you leave some space for the stalk to go in.

This is where things get a little tricky.

Take the green stalk while holding the stamen and petal in place with your left hand and insert the the tip of one side of the green stalk into the overlapping tunnel at the bottom untill it touches the yellow stamen. Now fold the bottom right of the lily petal over the the stamen, stalk and the left part of the petal that should be wrapped tightly against the stamen and stalk.

Now simply use your one hand while holding the complete assembly with the other and shape the top parts of the petal untill it looks like a arum lily. This whole assembly can get you in a bit of a knot the first few times but just keep at you will get it better.

If the petal starts to harden you can try to redip it or just start over. Now take the lily and place it into cold water and then dry it with a soft towel. Melt the pot you used to make the stalk with and overdip the lily so that you end up with a smooth finish, make sure you dip over the bottom assembly section because this will neaten it up and hide most of the finger prints.

Congratulations you've just completed your first floral candle!

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